Iloilo city: Local disaster risk reduction and management councils, particularly those along the path of Severe Tropical Storm Opong (international name Bualoi), are being directed to activate their Incident Management Teams (IMT) and response clusters. The IMT is responsible for coordinating disaster response, ensuring that all agencies collaborate under a unified system, monitoring the situation, managing resources, and directing operations such as evacuation, relief, and rescue.
According to Philippines News Agency, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Western Visayas Regional Director Raul Fernandez issued Memorandum No. 66 on Thursday afternoon, escalating the alert status of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operations Center from blue to red, effective 5 p.m. today. This requires detailed officers from uniformed personnel and technical staff from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration and various government departments to be on duty at the operations center.
Local government units have been instructed to implement preventive evacuations, strengthen risk communication efforts, disseminate advisories, stockpile resources, and prepare response teams for immediate action. Fernandez also advised uniformed services to preposition their search and rescue teams. He stated that the regional search and rescue equipment are on standby, and welfare goods have been prepositioned for immediate deployment if necessary.
Fernandez emphasized the readiness for preemptive evacuation and expressed confidence that communities requiring evacuation are prepared. He noted the regional DRRM council and the Civil Defense are always prepared for severe weather developments, citing the rapid intensification of weather systems like Tropical Storm Opong.
As of 2 p.m., the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration placed several areas in Western Visayas under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 1. The advisory warned that the southwest monsoon-enhanced Opong would bring gale-force gusts, particularly affecting coastal and upland areas in Western Visayas on Friday and Saturday.
