By: Jennifer P. Rendon and Emme Rose Santiagudo
Typhoon Ursula’s trail of destruction in Panay Island went beyond claiming lives.
Reports from the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC)-6 indicated that 111,266 houses were destroyed when Ursula pummelled Panay on Christmas Day.
75,461 houses were destroyed while 35,805 were partially damaged.
Aklan province registered the greatest number of destroyed houses at 80,417 (69,965 were destroyed and 10,452 partially damaged).
Capiz province recorded 16,950 damaged houses but most were partially destroyed at 13,179.
Antique only recorded 13,514 damaged houses composed of 11,799 partial and 1,715 totally damaged houses.
On the other hand, only 375 houses were destroyed in Iloilo.
It is worthy to note, though, that these houses were only in Concepcion town.
The towns of Batad, Carles, and Balasan have yet to report damaged houses.
Because of the havoc Ursula has created, two provinces, one city, and 10 municipalities were placed under a state of calamity.
These are the provinces of Capiz and Aklan; and Roxas City.
The towns placed under the state of calamity were Kalibo and Malay in Aklan; Pandan, Caluya, and Libertad in Antique; Sigma in Capiz; and Balasan, Batad, Carles, and Concepcion in Iloilo.
RDRRMC-6 said affected families were pegged at 200,671 (894,861 persons).
Aklan provinces recorded 93,941 affected families after noting that all its 17 towns were affected by Ursula’s onslaught.
Meanwhile, as of December 28, the cost of damage to agriculture was pegged at P38,099,381.68.
Iloilo province topped the amount of losses to agriculture at P24 million with its damage to rice plantation at P13.944 million and other crops at P10.08 million.
Capiz’s damage to agriculture was at P9.043 million.
Other provinces have yet to submit their report on agricultural losses.
Still, OCD-6 recorded Ursula casualties at 26 while there are still four missing persons.
Jose Roberto Nuñez, chairman of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) in Western Visayas and Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) 6 regional director broke the sad news on Monday as they continue to validate and quantify the damage done by Typhoon Ursula in the region.
According to Nuñez, OCD-6 has already delivered seven tons of shelter kits and tarpaulins to typhoon victims in Capiz.
“We gave out shelter kits and tarpaulin sa mga affected dun sa Capiz para kahit papano pag mahirapan sila doon sa evacuation centers may matirhan sila ngayong New Year,” he said.
He said that they are still waiting for the additional shelter and repair kits from the central office.
“Gagawin ko talaga yung lahat. Once na dumating yung additional shelter kits, repair kits, tubig and rice, the RDRRMC mismo will deliver it to the affected residents,” he said.
Nuñez said they are also preparing P20,000 in cash assistance to each family of the casualties.
On Monday, Mayor Jerry Treñas also announced that he will extend help to local government units (LGUs) that were severely affected by Typhoon Ursula.
“After New Year, we will be meeting with the city council to check the available funds para makabulig man kita sa mga naapektuhan sang bagyo. We initially plan to give 50,000 to 100,000 worth of assistance to the affected LGUs,” he said.
After the severe damage done by the calamity, Nuñez said the region should now focus on helping one another in its rehabilitation efforts.
“Now na tapos na yung calamity, there should be unity and cooperation. Magtulungan tayo, walang pili mahirap man o mayaman,” he said.
