Around 20 towns, districts, and cities have declared a state of calamity due to the effects of El Nino, a task force spokesperson said Sunday.

Citing data from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Task Force El Nino Assistant Secretary Joey Villarama said theprovince of Occidental Mindoro, the Zamboanga Penisula, Oriental Mindoro, Romblon and Palawan have declared a state of calamity.

“We said it’s almost 20 because we broke down the towns in the whole province of Occidental Mindoro. There are 11 towns there. There are seven other towns, including those in Palawan, Romblon, Oriental Mindoro, and the Zamboanga Peninsula. That’s why I said there are 18 towns (that declared a state of calamity),” Villarama said in an interview with dzBB.

Villarama said they expect more areas to be placed under a state of calamity.

“We heard on the news that 22 barangays in barangays in Cebu City have declared a state of calamity and Iloilo City will also declare a state of calamity,” he said.

Villarama explained that for a town or city to declare a state of calamity, 15 percent of its population and 30 percent of its livelihood should be affected.

In the case of earthquakes and typhoons, an important structure in the city should suffer damage, he added.

“There are LGUs (local government units) who have not met the criterion so they could not use their local calamity fund,” Villarama said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS