ILOILO CITY - The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) has raised its blue alert status on its emergency operations center and response clusters for heightened monitoring and reporting of the effects of Tropical Storm Kristine. Civil Defense Regional Director and RDRRMC chairperson Raul Fernandez on Wednesday said all rescue units and uniformed personnel were alerted, welfare goods were prepositioned, and evacuation centers were ready. 'We will implement preemptive evacuation in flood-prone and landslide-prone areas,' Fernandez said in an interview, citing as focused areas the coastal areas of Capiz, some parts of Aklan, Antique, and hinterlands of Leon, Maasin, Alimodian, Tubungan, and Igbaras in Iloilo. He added they are in constant communication with local DRRM officers, and they are ready to extend assistance. The RDRRMC chair said that based on the latest weather bulletin on Kristine by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGAS A), almost the whole of Western Visayas is affected. As of 11 a.m., the provinces of Aklan, Capiz, Antique, Iloilo, Guimaras, and the northern portion of Negros Occidental are already under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 1. 'There was a strong gale warning and a possibility of rains,' Fernandez added. The Philippine Coast Guard Iloilo Station also informed that trips from Iloilo to Manila, Cebu, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, and vice-versa are canceled due to the wind signal. Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development Western Visayas has over PHP146.7 million worth of family food packs for disaster response operations, consisting of 114,568 family food packs amounting to PHP89.28 million and PHP57 million worth of non-food items, on standby. Of the food packs, 64,317 are already prepositioned in strategic sites to ensure that affected families in any given disaster would need the aid, according to the DSWD statement. 'The DSWD Quick Response Team (QRT) has already been activated to res pond to the situation,' the DSWD added. As of 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the progress report of the RDRRMC showed that 141 families affected by the weather disturbance from six barangays of Negros Occidental are staying in evacuation centers. Source: Philippines News Agency