MANILA – The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Wednesday said Smart Communications have restored cellular signal in Virac, Catanduanes.
“For information po, may portion na daw po ng Virac na nagkaroon na ng signal ang Smart (There are portions of Virac that now have Smart signal) as confirmed by OCD ETC (Office of Civil Defense Emergency Telecommunications) team na nasa (in the) capitol. Around 8 a.m., may mga incoming messages na daw na-receive ‘yung mobile phone ng mga uniformed personnel na kasama nila sa (there were incoming messages received by some uniformed personnel who are with them in the) capitol,” NDRRMC spokesperson Mark Cashean Timbal said in a message to reporters.
He added that outgoing calls and text messages using Smart are already functional but mobile data signal remains intermittent in these areas.
Timbal also said cellular signal from Globe Telecom has also been restored in these areas.
“We also received information from our communications team in Virac that Globe has already set up their emergency communications equipment. Meron na din po Globe signal (Globe signal is already available) in a portion of Virac,” he added.
Timbal said they are still verifying if other parts of Catanduanes now have cellular signal.
The province’s communication lines were cut during the onslaught of Super Typhoon Rolly last Nov. 1 prompting the national government to fly in a satellite phone and other related equipment to restore at least some forms of communications with the locality.
Before the re-establishment of the communications link between the NDRRMC headquarters in Manila and Catanduanes, officials were only able to communicate with each other through high-frequency radio communication and satellite phones.
“We (also) thank our friends from the amateur radio groups who served as the link in those critical times,” Timbal said.
He said these groups played a big role in disaster management operations at all levels as these were “able to relay important information” to the OCD in the aftermath of the typhoon.
In its update Wednesday released and signed by executive director Ricardo Jalad, the NDRRMC said the number of individuals affected by “Rolly” has climbed to 2,083,222 residing in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, and the National Capital Region.
Of this number 517,172 individuals are being served and outside evacuation centers.
The number of deaths being validated is placed at 20, injured at 74, and three missing in Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Bicol.
Damaged houses were placed at 24,750, with 3,666 classified as “totally damaged” and 21,084 “partially damaged” in Bicol and the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Also, damage to infrastructure was placed at PHP4.8 billion in Bicol alone while agriculture damage was estimated at PHP1,998,663,877 in Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol, and Eastern Visayas.