MANILA – Different military units have so far rescued a total of 265,339 individuals in the areas severely hit by Typhoon Ulysses, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Monday.
Through continuous search, rescue, and retrieval (SRR) operations, the AFP units have saved 1,078 lives from the massive flooding in Northern Luzon including the Cagayan Valley while 263,444 individuals were rescued in Southern Luzon following the onslaught of “Ulysses”.
The AFP SRR teams also helped 817 persons in the National Capital Region (NCR). The AFP is leading the SRR cluster of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC).
“Our soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines have switched their firearms with ropes, life rings, and life jackets to respond to the cries for help during heavy and widespread flooding that affected our people. The AFP leads the SRR cluster and continues to work with other government agencies to save more lives amidst the challenges brought by natural calamities and a global pandemic,” said AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Gilbert Gapay in a statement.
Among SRR cluster members are the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Health–Health Emergency Management Staff (DOH-HEMS), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).
The AFP has so far deployed a total of 83 SRR teams nationwide to help local government units (LGUs) in their disaster response efforts. It also deployed 83 land assets, nine aircraft, and 18 water assets.
Meanwhile, a total of 145 teams remain on standby for possible deployment and augmentation along with 268 land assets, nine aircraft, two vessels, and 25 rubber boats.
In its latest efforts, the AFP sent 32 SRR teams in the provinces of Cagayan and Isabela which were heavily flooded due to the cumulative effects of the recent typhoons and release of water from Magat Dam.
It also deployed three water search-and-rescue (WASAR) teams with three boats while two UH-1H, two Bell-412, and two C-295s aircraft are carrying out disaster response and relief missions in Tuguegarao City. An air ambulance is also on standby at the Northern Luzon Command (NolCom) for possible deployment.
Three more WASAR teams from the Army Engineers are coming from Villamor Air Base in Pasay and two more from the Naval Forces Northern Luzon departing from San Fernando, La Union.
The AFP also launched the “Tulong Bayanihan” program, a civil-military operations initiative that turned military camps into donation drop-off centers for those who wish to donate and send help to affected individuals.
The military is likewise assisting in the distribution and transportation of food and non-food items in affected communities in Northern and Southern Luzon.
A total of 9,110 relief goods were distributed by personnel from NolCom while 2,579 were handed out by Southern Luzon Command (SolCom).
Most recent relief operations conducted were in Cagayan as SRR teams from the Marine Battalion Landing Team-10 together with the local government unit of Aparri, Cagayan distributed food packs to 400 families of Barangay Bisagu as of Sunday.
Also transported to Tuguegarao City via C-130 aircraft were 1,000 boxes of relief goods, 14 boxes of personal protective equipment and 20,000 boxes of face masks and face shields from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) headquarters in Pasay City.
“While the AFP has started to shift to relief efforts in some areas, our responding teams continue to brave heavily flooded communities to conduct search, rescue and retrieval operations in the hopes of rescuing more individuals. Our resilience and ‘Bayanihan’ have allowed us to hurdle obstacles. We call on everyone to hold on to safety as help is on the way and help will come,” Gapay said.