LEAVING HOME ON CHRISTMAS Residents of Daraga, Albay province, are given a ride in the back of a truck after heavy and incessant rains brought by Typhoon “Nina” (international name: Nock-ten) drive them to evacuate to higher ground. —AFP
The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) is waiting for Cebu City Council if the city will be sending relief aid to areas in Bicol region devastated by Typhoon “Nina” (international name: Nock-Ten) .
CDRRMC Chief Harold Alcontin told Cebu Daily News by phone today that they were also monitoring what assistance might be needed by Bicol but stressed “this is subject to the approval of (Mayor Tomas Osmeña) and the city council especially that we will be sending help in a very distant area.”
In Albay, parts of its first and third districts remained unreachable by Monday afternoon after “Nina” left the region.
Telecommunication services in Guinobatan, Tabaco City and Tiwi were still down, leaving Bicolanos in other parts of the country and abroad unable to contact their relatives.
“We don’t know why our communications here are down. Our towers were not damaged by Typhoon Nina,” Guinobatan Mayor Ann Gemma Ongjoco told the Inquirer.
Some parts of Guinobatan remained non-passable, preventing the local government from delivering assistance to residents.
Ongjoco said that in their initial assessment, Nina’s damage to rice farms in the town reached about P10 million while damage to infrastructures may reach P25 million.