THE Philippine National Police (PNP) and the military are continuing clearing operations in areas affected by Typhoon Rosita in Northern Luzon even as the search and rescue continues for the more than 20 people still trapped inside three buildings of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Mountain Province.
The chief of the Armed Forces (AFP) Northern Luzon Command (Nolcom), Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Salamat, is personally leading the clearing operations for the military, as well as the continuing rapid damage assessments and needs analysis in provinces pummeled by Rosita.
Elements of the Army’s 54th Infantry Battalion led by Lt. Col. Narciso Nabulneg have already cleared the roads and highway from Tabuk, Kalinga, up to Paracelis in Mountain Province.
The same team is also doing clearing operations from Paracelis up to Natonin in Mount Province, where the three buildings of the Mount Province Second District Engineering Office were buried by a landslide.
Nolcom Spokesman Maj. Ericson Bulusan said six search, retrieval and rescue (SRR) teams from the 525th Engineer Combat Battalion have been dispatched to the landslide site.
The soldiers will augment the two squads of the Cafgu’s Salloc Patrol Base and other rescuers from the military and other government agencies in the ongoing search and rescue in Sitio Sakrang, Barangay Banawel, Natonin.
Bulusan said other teams under the Nolcom were into clearing operations in other affected provinces—Isabela, Cagayan, Quirino, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya.
The operations are simultaneous with the humanitarian assistance and disaster-response activities in the affected provinces.
“The Nolcom sympathizes with all the families who have lost a loved one due to the lashing of Typhoon Rosita and will continue to sustain its utmost effort in conducting Hadro [Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response Operations] and SRR operations, as well as providing assistance for the fast recovery of victims of Typhoon Rosita,” Bulusan said.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council listed 15 dead, six missing and three injured from the Typhoon as of Thursday, although it added that the report will still be subjected to verification.
A consolidated partial report received by Camp Crame from its various police regional offices in the Cordillera, Regions 2, 3 and 4A, however, reflected 56 casualties.
Of this figure, 17 died (one in Region 2, one in Central Luzon, two in Region 4A and 13 in Cordillera).
The report also indicated that at least 5,155 houses and government projects were destroyed, while 30 areas in Region 2 remained flooded.
At least 27 roads in Regions 1 and 2 and in Cordillera were still inaccessible to traffic.
The consolidated police report also said that 98 areas in Regions 1 and 2 were still without electricity.