NAGA LANDSLIDE / September 23, 2018: Danny Lendio (Leftmost) poses for a photo with his companions from DPWH First Engineering District in Negros Oriental while having their break from the search and rescue operation.
CDN photo/Rosalie Abatayo
DANNY Lendio has been away from his family and home in Bendoy, Negros Oriental since Friday
afternoon.
Lendio, a maintenance worker of the first engineering district of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Negros Oriental, was among the 18 personnel sent by the agency to help in the search, rescue and retrieval (SRR) operations in the landslide hit area in Barangay Tinaan, City of Naga.
Since Friday evening, Lendio and his companions have been sleeping in their makeshift tents in two mini dump trucks stationed near the Naga City Hall.
In the morning, they would go to the landslide areas in Sitio Sindulan and a part of Barangay Naalad for the SRR and for transporting equipment and personnel to and from the landslide area.
Lendio’s team is also tasked to bring the belongings of the residents of the affected barangays of Tinaan and Naalad to their respective evacuation centers.
Although this was not the first time that Lendio has worked far from home, the 47-year-old father said this was a different experience since this was his first chance to participate in an SRR.
For Lendio, it is all about being able to be of service to the victims of the landslide in the best way he knows how: as part of the augmentation volunteer force from DPWH.
While Lendio, his 17 companions and some 400 other responders worked on rescuing and recovering the victims of the massive landslide that wiped a portion of Sitio Sindulan and Barangay Naalad, a group also came to bring aid to these responders.
At least 50 action beds were delivered on Sunday noon to the incident command post near the landslide area considered as ‘ground zero’ in Sitio Sindulan.
The beds were donated by Kilusang Pagbabago, the citizen’s arm of the Duterte administration led by Doris Mongaya, and Visayas Director for Office of Participatory Governance Wendell Martin Cabrera.
“Para meron silang (So that they will have) at least, comfortable place to rest, and somebody is taking care of them (rescuers),” said Cabrera.
Cabrera added that the government may give more equipment such as gears and masks for the rescuers.
Some rescuers earlier asked that they will be provided with N-95 masks because Ground Zero has started to emit the foul smell.
The Department of Health (DOH-7) during the press briefing on Sunday evening, said they will be providing Vitamin C and vaccines, like anti-tetanus, to the responders.
Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head Baltazar Tribunalo also asked the DOH to deploy a medical team to aid the responders in ground zero.
Tribunalo, the incident command post ground commander, said that they will continue to conduct the SRR as they still hope to find survivors under the rubble.
A reassessment whether the responders will shift into a search and retrieval operations will be conducted within the next two or three days.