TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, May 25 (PIA) - - After the declaration of three municipalities, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) passed a resolution earlier today to declare the whole province under a State of Calamity due to El Niño phenomenon.
The municipalities identified were Kapalong, Carmen and Asuncion.
According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council Memorandum Order No 04 series of 1998, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan can declare the entire or a portion of the province under a state of calamity if there are two or more municipalities affected by a disaster.
PDRRMC Executive Director and Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Romulo Tagalo said that the province waited for the municipalities’ declaration as it is a requirement for the provincial declaration.
According to the resolutions, the municipal government of Kapalong declared its area under a state of calamity last February 2016, while Carmen and Asuncion just declared last April.
Tagalo stressed that reports on the damages may take time because El Niño is a slow concept type of climate anomaly.
“Hindi ito kagaya ng baha na makikita mo kaagad ang emergency kasi binabaha na (This is not like flooding that you can immediately see the emergency because it already flooding.)” he said.
Based on the reports, the families affected by the drought in the province reached to 57,244 or about 228,976 individuals, while it also damaged a total of P883-million in agriculture.
In the agriculture, the biggest impact was felt by the Exported Banana farmers with damages reaching to P408.61-million, followed by Rice farmers with P202.82-million and Local Banana farmers with P150.94-million.
Included in the resolution is the P10-million worth of intervention of the province, which includes seed and fertilizer assistance, fingerlings, medicines and relief goods. (PIA11, Michael Uy)