250 affected families provided with essential relief goods
BAYOG, Zamboanga del Sur / May 2021 – Grateful families from Bayog Municipality who were recipients of the relief operations conducted by TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. (TVIRD) thanked company officials and personnel for their immediate response at the height of Tropical Storm Crising.
These families who come from TVIRD’s beneficiary communities likewise expressed their appreciation for the much-needed aid the company distributed in their time of great need. These include food packs, medicines, mineral water as well as detergents and bath soaps that were provided by the company on the heels of the storm that badly hit several lowland barangays.
“Daghan kaayong Salamat sa TVIRD. Daku na ug matabang sa amo kining bugas ug linata nga among nadawat karon.” (Thank you so much TVIRD. The rice and canned goods that we received will greatly help us),” said an unnamed recipient.
A natural disaster
TVIRD Community Relations Officer Lope Dizon revealed some 250 families from Barangays Dimalinao, Kahayagan and Dipili received assistance from TVIRD directly after Crising battered these barangays with strong floods caused by extraordinary rainfall that lasted for almost five hours.
Earlier, PAGASA warned of “isolated to scattered flooding, including flash floods and rain-induced landslides” in vulnerable areas. Specifically for Zamboanga del Sur, this is not the first time that a natural disaster of this magnitude brought savage destruction to homes and farmlands.
In a succeeding bulletin, the agency placed the province under Storm Signal No. 1 along with the rest of the Zamboanga Peninsula but stated that Crising unleashed heavy rains causing floods to many lowland barangays.
At Ground Zero
Barangay Dimalinao was hit the hardest and is considered as Crising’s ground zero. Residents fled for safety as floodwaters swept away 11 houses and submerged rice lands.
While the town’s Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) reported no casualties, the local government is “still assessing the damage that Crising brought to the agricultural sector,” Dizon said.
Meantime, TVIRD’s team of volunteers is on standby and ready to respond to the immediate needs of the affected communities.
Immediate actions
Aside from food assistance, TVIRD also mobilized its Engineering Team to repair the five-kilometer access road connecting Barangays Pulang Bato and Dimalinao to the town center, according to Dizon.
He further explained that a portion of the road was damaged due to landslides and scouring.
Presently, TVIRD’s Community Relations Team is preparing more relief goods for distribution to families mostly affected in the towns of Diplahan, Imelda, Siay and Kabasalan. The company’s engineers are also preparing to perform earthworks on the relocation site of houses, a daycare center and Dimalinao’s barangay hall.
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