after operation report team samar

8/10/2019 After Operation Report Team Samar

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TO : SONNY COLOMASecretary

SUBJECT : After operation report (Team Samar)

THRU : OIC GIRLIE BANGUNANROD

DATE : November 19, 2013

May we respectfully submit our after operation report regarding our recent trip totyphoon ravaged area of Central Visayas. May this be of help in improving our futureresponses for the benefit of the general public.

November 8 (Friday) Super Typhoon Yolanda (International name: Haiyan) makeslandfall on Eastern Samar at 4:40am with record maximum sustained winds of 235 kphand gustiness of up to 275 kph. It lashes through Central Visayas before exiting forVietnam on November 9 (Saturday).

November 10 (Sunday) DG Jose Marie Oquinena called for an emergency meeting anddivide the personnel into three (3) groups who will help in the communication aspect ofthose affected by the super typhoon. The teams are:

Team 1: Mai Macapagat

Noel MacapagatDarwin Gernale

Team 2: Ogie SalvadorPhres EvardoneCelso QuesiaRemy Gumangan-Driver

Team 3: PN volunteers

Team 2 was assigned to cover Eastern Samar, specifically to penetrate the municipality

of Guiuan which was the place where Typhoon Yolanda makes its first landfall. Team 2requested that we brought along a vehicle to make us more mobile since based oninitial information the place was totally devastated and it will be very difficult to travelfrom one point to another without any form of transportation at hand. Furthermore, therewas a report of fuel shortage in the area. Thus, we requested for 2 containers full ofdiesel at R5 office.

Team Samar left Manila immediately after the meeting and reached Calbayog City onthe evening of Monday after non-stop travel from Manila for 2 days. The team rested forthe night after uploading pictures taken along the way and produced 1 story (Rope ofHope) which was uploaded to the PIA website.

At around 5am of Tuesday, Team Samar pushed through to Borongan City which is 8-9hours drive from Calbayog city. Upon reaching the area, we immediately proceeded toPIA Borongan Infocen to look for PIA personnel in the area. We were directed toproceed to the Provincial Capitol where PIA personnel are helping out the reliefoperation of the province. Ms. Alice Nicart was overwhelmed with joy upon seeingpersonnel from the Central Office. She told us that she was touched by the concernedshown by the office to its regional staff. PIA Team Samar suffered a flat tire and sincethere was no electricity in the whole province we had difficulty finding a functioningvulcanizing shop. No electricity nor cellphone signal in the area. Thus, we cannot sendstories and photos taken during the day.


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Wednesday, after repairing our punctured tire, we proceeded to the municipality ofHernani. We set up a help desk on the municipal hall and an evacuation center whereresidents from Barangay 3 and 4, the area near the municipal hall which was wiped outby the storm surge temporarily seek shelter.

The Mayor of Hernani also informed us that all coastal barangays were wiped out andthe worst is in barangay Batang which has 29 casualties. We proceeded to saidbarangay to set up a help desk.

Since we cannot send our stories, photos and the messages gathered in the said areadue to lack of phone signal/internet signal. We deemed it prudent for us to travel back toCalbayog City for us to relay the information gathered and upload the photos andstories. We arrive Calbayog City past midnight and before taking our rest we uploadedphotos and stories. Also encoded the messages and sent to PIA central.

Thursday, we replenished our diesel and groceries and had the vehicle repaired and

replaced its three (3) fan belts to ensure that we will not suffer any vehicle break downon our way to Guiuan. Uploaded additional stories for PIA website.

Friday, we were advised by PIA central office not to proceed to Guiuan but instead go tothe area of Tacloban-Ormoc to met DG MAri. After arriving in Tacloban, DG Mari was inthe area and met us. He told us that we will be boarding a C-130 cargo plane bound toCebu in Ormoc City for the team to take a rest before going back to Manila. The vehicleand the driver was left to DG Mari to be use in the operation.

The team was not able to proceed to Cebu due to lack of available C-130 transportplane and spent the night in Ormoc city.

Suggestions/recommendation:

As mandated by NDRRMC Law, PIA should create its Emergency OperationCenter (EOC) which will be dispatched to calamity stricken area before a strongtyphoon hit the area. The purpose of which is to give communication assistanceto line agencies in the area and report the preparation being undertaken as wellas steps being made by the national government to achieve zero casualty. Incase of unforeseen calamity such as earthquake and the like, to be dispatchedimmediately to calamity stricken area to report the assistance being given by thenational government and serve as a conduit communication to the outside worldfor the people affected in the area in case communication lines are affected.

Creation of Emergency Plan for all regional and provincial offices in case acalamity of Yolanda type scale calamity hit an area. Adopting the principle of BigBrother-Small Brother system wherein areas near the badly hit province or regionwill assist its counterpart.

What can be done

Since telecommunication services are already installed in some hard hit areas,PIA should go to areas still without telecom service and set up a help desk. Gettheir messages and the telephone numbers of their love ones and send them out.Furthermore, there should be a response system wherein those who had senttheir messages can get the responses of their love ones.


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Since based on reports, electricity in some areas can be restored beforeChristmas (December 24). PIA could go back to the old communicationtechnique. The film showing/TV showing in town plaza areas. People in the saidareas needs entertainment after their Yolanda experience and PIA can providethis by setting up a TV on top of a vehicle powered by a generator set. The extra

electricity from the generator set can be used by the people in charging theirflashlights and cellular phones. Thus, giving them little relief. Please take notethat businessmen are charging P 20 for flashlight and P 25 for cellphone in saidareas. Furthermore, we can use the opportunity to inform the people of what the

Aquino administration has been doing by playing AVP at film intervals.

People are complaining of long line at libreng tawag stations set up bytelecommunication companies in the area. PIA can also provide said servicestaking into consideration that there are several unlicall and unlitext lines in theoffice.

Respectfully yours,

Eliseo SalvadorTeam SamarPCRD

after operation report team samar

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