Authorities eye pre-emptive evacuation in Northern Luzon as ''Marce'' nears
Authorities are eyeing pre-emptive evacuation in some areas in Northern Luzon in preparation for Typhoon ''Marce'' as more than 100 died and damage worth at least P10 billion in agriculture and infrastructure were record from the onslaught of Severe Tropical Storm ''Kristine'' and Typhoon ''Leon'' in the previous month.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is requiring the municipal mayors and disaster risk reduction officers to implement forced evacuation in areas that cannot be reached by the responding government forces.
"Based on historical experience, there are areas especially in the eastern seaboard of Region 2 where we conducted forced evacuation. But we will let the regional directors and local (government unit) to provide right and early information for forced evacuations," he said.
"We leave it to the local officials as per protocol to enforce the evacuations. They must have identified the areas already. Now in the areas that are not familiar with the force evacuation we are asking our local officials with the help of the regional OCD officials to compare information and make your best prediction possible whether or not it is necessary," he added.
As of Tuesday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported a total of 151 deaths with 134 injured and 21 victims missing due to the combined effect of Kristine and Leon.
Damage to infrastructure continued to increase to P8.24 billion while agricultural losses reached P6.20 billion. Robina Asido/DMS
