US, Japan, Australia, Singapore assessment teams now in PHL

Tabaco City, Albay: As of December 7, 2014, 11:21 a,m., a total off 184 sacks of Rice from NFA Tabaco were hauled, transported, and distributed by units to the city’s thirteen barangays. (Photo via Naval Forces – Southern Luzon)

MANILA — Advance assessment teams from the United States, Japan, Australia and Singapore have arrived in the Philippines to help in the ongoing efforts to determine the exact damage caused by the onslaught of Typhoon “Ruby”.

This was announced by 7th Civil Relations Group commander Major Emmanuel Garcia Monday.

He added that the US team is composed of nine personnel while the Japanese team is composed of eight while those coming from Australian and Singapore are composed of four each.

Garcia said that these teams will help their Philippine counterparts in expediting assessment of damage sustained by the country during the onslaught of “Ruby.”

In line with this, a US aircraft, U-28, which overfly the affected areas in the Visayas and nearby provinces, initially indicated light damage along a 20-kilometer width path.

“(The plane) saw no signs of major damage (in) structures, most trees it saw were bending but not down,” Garcia said.

And with adverse weather caused by “Ruby” expected to batter Metro Manila early Tuesday, the 7th Civil Relations Group commander said that Joint Task Force-National Capital Region has already pre-positioned disaster response task units in flood prone areas in Manila, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela.