(Photo from MMDA Facebook page)
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has sent anew a humanitarian contingent to a disaster-hit province, this time, Catanduanes in the Bicol Region, which was battered by Super Typhoon Pepito (Man-yi).
This Catanduanes-bound MMDA team consists of 15 personnel from the agency’s Public Safety Division and Road Emergency Group, bringing 40 units of solar-powered water filtration system, with each unit capable of filtering up to 180 gallons of water per hour, for the consumption by affected residents.
MMDA Chairman Atty. Don Artes, together with Assistant General Manager for Operations Asec. David Angelo Vargas, Metropolitan Public Safety Office OIC Atty. Crisanto Saruca, and Office of the Civil Defense-NCR Director George Keyser, led the send-off ceremony for the team today, Nov. 20.
“Ang pagpapadala ng humanitarian team ay bunsod na rin ng direktiba ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. kahapon na agarang deployment ng water filtration units ng ahensiya para makatugon sa pangangailangan ng mga nasalanta,” the MMDA said.
Last October, the agency also sent a contingent to Bicol after the region was heavily impacted by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (Trami).
The Kristine-response deployment consisted of a 30-man clearing team and a 20-man search and rescue team to assist in areas in the region that was hit by heavy rains and floods.
They brought with them 40 units of solar-powered water filtration system, one aluminum boat, two engine-operated rubber boats, 20 small fiberglass boats, 1,000 life vests, six chainsaws, modular evacuation tents, and medicines for leptospirosis.
The MMDA likewise sent a contingent to Batangas, which was also hit by Kristine.
The contingent, composed of the agency’s K-9 Unit, Public Safety Division, and Road Emergency Group, assisted in the search, rescue, and retrieval operations in the province, particularly in the municipalities of Agoncillo and Lemery.
They brought with them a Multi-Purpose Life Locator apparatus, chainsaws and other tools and equipment for the operations including clearing roads of fallen trees, rocks, mud, soil and other debris brought by the storm.
