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Published April 18, 2021, 8:22 AM
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay – The Bicol Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) has put its operation center under “red alert status” as preparation for super typhoon “Bising”.
Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol spokesperson Gremil Naz said that this means highest level of monitoring, coordination and reporting is recommended to all response agencies and local DRRMs.
Response assets are now on standby for any possible worst scenario.
As of 4 p.m. on April 17, 2021, there are at least 623 passengers stranded in different ports in Bicol region.
Naz said 599 passengers are stranded at Manog port, 22 at Tabaco port and 2 at Pilar port.
(Pexels / FILE PHOTO)
Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol spokesperson Gremil Naz said that the blue alert status was declared Thursday during the pre-disaster risk assessment (PDRA) held via teleconferencing.
“Naka-blue alert status na po ‘yung emergency operations center (EOC) natin for severe tropical storm Surigae which shall be named “Bising” once na pumasok na sa Philippine Area of Responsibility,” Naz said.
This means the EOC is on heightened monitoring, coordination, and reporting. The regional assets were also pre-activated for possible deployment, Naz explained.
Naz said that based from the discussion of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) Legazpi station, the current forecast track of Surigae is that it will recurve northward while approximately 450 kilometers east of Sorsogon Monday.
(Zaldy Comanda / MANILA BULLETIN)
The NCR, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal will remain under the enhanced community quarantine until April 11 to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the region.
In a statement released Wednesday night, April 7, Lingap Gabriela urged the national government to “heed the people’s calls” and focus on measures aimed to improve the country’s pandemic response.
“Health professionals and various people’s organizations are reiterating the importance of #FreeMassTestingNow. The government, through its surrogates, is claiming that mass testing is an impossible feat noting the country’s ‘limited resources.’ This is categorically untrue given the bloated military and intelligence budget in this fiscal year’s General Appropriations Act,” the group stressed.
(Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg)
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has issued a resolution allowing the OCD to use quick response funds for the procurement of these diagnostic kits that detect protein fragments specific to the coronavirus.
The massive purchase of the antigen diagnostic test kits aim to “ensure the swift detection of cases and tracing of close contacts,” according to the latest IATF Resolution No. 108.
“The Office of the Civil Defense is hereby authorized to procure using their Quick Response Fund under the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management or such other available funds, an initial Five Hundred Thousand (500,000) pieces of any of the following Rapid Antigen Test Kits authorized by the Food and Drug Administration,” the resolution read.