Monday, July 21, 2008 Flood damages reach P1.15 billion
FLASHFLOODS brought by torrential heavy rains devastated a whooping P1.15 billion in agriculture and infrastructure facilities in Central Mindanao, official data from the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) showed.
Chief Superintendent Felizardo M. Serapio Jr., RDCC chair and regional police director, said flashfloods wrecked havoc on 332 barangays in 31 towns of the region's four provinces.
In the past three weeks, intermittent heavy downpour hit Central Mindanao, consisting of the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato and Sarangani, as well as the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
Last week, regional government agencies convened in the joint RDCC-Regional Peace and Order Council-Regional Development Council meeting to discuss the impact of floods and other matters.
"The floods brought widespread damage to agriculture, fisheries, roads and bridges, irrigation and civilian's houses," Serapio said.
The death toll from the floods officially stood at 16, three missing, and 12 injured, an official report showed.
Before the meeting, various government officials in the region placed the damage caused by floods at P210 million.
Hit hardest by the calamity was the agriculture sector with losses of P685 million, the bulk of which was suffered by North Cotabato province at P579 million, Serapio reported.
A total of 27,664 hectares of lands planted to palay, corn, vegetables, mango and banana were ravaged by the floods, he said.
Total damage to roads and bridges amounted to P259 million, with Sultan Kudarat province carrying the brunt at P129 million, Serapio added.
In terms of irrigation system damage, the figure was pegged at P165.7 with Sultan Kudarat taking the most beating at P121.5 million.
Serapio also said the destruction to the fisheries sector reached at least P38 million, of which Sarangani province was hit the most at P23 million.
On the other hand, total assistance extended to the affected areas from funds of the government and non-government organization totaled less than P10 million, RDCC data showed.
The flashfloods affected some 48,431 families or 267,269 individuals. Of the figure, 5,540 families or 28,193 are still staying in different evacuation centers in Cotabato City and Lambayong in Sultan Kudarat.
Some 238 houses were destroyed and another 1,172 houses were damaged by the flashfloods, the report also showed.
Government leaders in the region have been appealing for help from the private sector to alleviate the plight of the evacuees, citing the limited resources of the local government units.
