BLAME GAME NOV. 8 “Yolanda” hit land on Nov. 8 and wiped out all communications. The Army commander for Eastern Visayas, Brig. Gen. Jet Belarmino, with HQ beside the Tacloban airport, had to bore a hole in the ceiling of his quarters to survive the rising waters. And Lt. Col. Fermin Carangan of the Air Force was swept out to sea for six hours; he managed to survive, and save a 7-year-old boy in the process. NOV. 9 The first military sortie was carried out on Nov. 9, by the GHQ Crisis Action Team and Medical Teams with 7,000 pounds of relief goods and food packs that were prepared four-five days earlier. The Air Force and Navy began transporting Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) assets and equipment coordinated by a command post in Tacloban (at the police station). A C-130 was used to bring 50 drums of oil for use of their other air assets in rescue and transport work. The same efforts were made in the cities of Roxas and Iloilo. Two Navy ships (DF 341 and DF 352) were also deployed to bring aid and relief goods to Carles and Estancia in northern Iloilo. By Nov. 9, other ships and air assets were carrying everything from cadaver bags to medicines to food, as well as communications equipment, fuel and personnel to Roxas; Kalibo, Aklan; San Jose, Antique; Guiuan, Eastern Samar; northern Panay; northern Palawan (including Coron); Negros Island; Masbate; and Cebu City. How do you think we got the information that 7,251 barangays in 471 municipalities and 51 cities in 41 provinces, involving 2.1 million families, were devastated? By Thursday, 15 naval vessels had transported relief goods, equipment and personnel in affected areas in Eastern and Western Visayas. Aircraft had flown 216 sorties carrying 379,369 lbs of relief goods and 267,183 lbs of other cargo (fuel, equipment, etc.). The military literally threw everything it had into the effort, including land vehicles (81 trucks), 23 aircraft, and 17 Navy vessels (from five tons to 2,000 tons). This, aside from the 3,000 men sent to help the 12,000 men already in the area. It established six monitoring hubs over the Visayas, presided over by five brigadier generals and one colonel. Serving the Filipino people. Not enough? No presence? Please. Certainly not from want of trying. And given the limitations of equipment because the money for them was going elsewhere. The military is not the only one who is getting a raw deal here. Local government officials (all right, maybe some of them are tying their relief services to votes) have been criticized, too. And the central government, including the President. I think they’ve done a hell of a job. They cannot be judged based on one city alone—Tacloban. Only consider: Do you really think anyone could have done better there, when 98 percent of the city had been destroyed, including the airport?
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 00:41:18 +0000
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