Daanbantayan readies generators, food packs

Mayor Corro

Most of the 20 barangays in Daanbanatayn town, northern Cebu now own generator sets, ready  for use   in case typhoon Ruby crashes power supply over the weekend.

Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro said barangays acquired their own generator sets after they lost power for nearly a month in the wake of supertyphoon Yolanda’s devastation in November 8 last year.

“We should be prepared one or two steps ahead,” Corro said.

Volunteers  started to gather at the municipal gym Wednesday morning to prepare  3,000 food packs that would be enough to feed 3,000 coastal families for two days.

Volunteers

Daanbantayan town  was in the eye of typhoon Yolanda, which claimed nine lives in the area.

Corro said he bought more  generator sets and chainsaws for their town.

He recalled that they prepared food packs  before Yolanda arrived but those weren’t enough to feed the survivors.

Corro said he convened members of the Municipal Risk Reduction Management Council last Tuesday morning  to discuss preparations  for typhoon Ruby.

Ready

The Municipal Social Welfare and Services Office mobilized volunteers who started packing three kilos of rice, sardines and noodles per family.

Food packs will be given to families of 15 coastal barangays and the island barangays of Malapascua and Karnasa.

Barangay officials were asked to inform coastal residents days ahead of Ruby’s arrival.

“I have been telling them to be ready.  Based on our experience, dili na ta maka tarong ug prepare kung mo panic na (We cannot

prepare well if we panic),” Corro told Cebu Daily News in a telephone interview.

The municipal sports center and some schools have been identified as evacuation centers.

He also ordered municipal workers to make sure that the roof of their municipal gym was strong enough to withstand strong winds.

Their gym was among the municipal structures damaged by Yolanda.

Corro said they bought about 200 sacks of rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) using the balance of their disaster funds.

But he was uncertain about the remaining balance of the town’s disaster funds.  The first 100 sacks of rice were sent to their municipal hall yesterday morning.