MANDALUYONG CITY -- Chairman Richard “Dick” J. Gordon directed the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) to send a search and rescue team on April 11, 2022 to Barangay Ga-as, Baybay City, due to the multiple landslides reported in Leyte after Tropical Storm Agaton brought heavy rains over the weekend.

“Sa ganitong panahon, kahit na hindi super typhoon ang Agaton ay hindi tayo nagpapabaya. Palaging nakahanda ang Red Cross para rumesponde sa ating mga kababayan sa oras ng sakuna,” the PRC Chairman and CEO, Senator Richard “Dick” Gordon, said.

Two assessment teams from the PRC chapter in Leyte, together with the search and rescue team, the ambulance team, and the welfare services team left for Baybay City and Abuyog town today. The chapter also deployed floating assets, such as a rescue boat, for a water search and rescue operation in the municipality of Abuyog.

In coordination with the Baybay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, the PRC team sent its food trucks to prepare and distribute hot meals in an evacuation center. PRC volunteers and staff also distributed hot meals to 88 individuals in Barangay Curva and to 53 individuals in Barangay Danhug evacuation centers in Ormoc City. They also distributed hot meals in Barangay Lamak, Hilongos and to stranded passengers and evacuees in Liloan, San Ricardo, and Pintuyan towns in Southern Leyte.

PRC Ormoc City Chapter was directed to stand ready to assist the Leyte Chapter in the operations in Baybay. PRC Eastern Samar Chapter has sent an assessment team to Jipapad and Guiuan towns.

Although TS Agaton has been downgraded to a tropical depression, it continues to bring heavy rains across Visayas, Mindanao, and Luzon as it slowly moves east. (Philippine Red Cross)