DOWNED communication lines in provinces hardest hit by super typhoon Yolanda had the national government grappling with piecemeal information as the year’s strongest typhoon barreled through Eastern and Central Visayas.
“Our problem now is us not knowing what is their situation there,” Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said at a press conference Friday.
Even Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who were dispatched by President Aquino to Leyte on Thursday, could not be reached by the NDRRMC yesterday afternoon.
“We don’t have reports of casualties today (Friday). We do not know really because in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas), we don’t have a line of communication. You will see from the briefing that the casualties happened yesterday, not because there was landfall today,” he said.
“The effects (of the typhoon) we don’t know yet especially in Samar and Leyte provinces,” del Rosario added.
But del Rosario assuaged the concerns by saying that the lack of communication, particularly in Leyte and Samar, “does not mean that the situation there is worsening.”
“I am not worried. My only worry is to immediately [restore] that line of communication. But with regard to their situation there, they can stand on their own,” Del Rosario said.
Telecommunications companies were expected to restore communication lines within 24 hours. Power lines were also knocked down by the typhoon.
A representative from the National Electrification Administration said Eastern Visayas and Bohol province experienced total blackout. There was also partial blackout on Panay Island, including Iloilo City.