By Michelle Ducut
Over 3, 400 families, totaling 10, 088 individuals, have been pre-emptively evacuated across Region II as Typhoon Marce, internationally named Yinxing, brings powerful winds and heavy rainfall to northern Luzon. The affected families were evacuated from high-risk areas in Batanes, Cagayan, and Isabela to temporary shelters as the typhoon continues its destructive path.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region II Director Lucia Alan reported on Thursday that the regional office is closely coordinating with local governments and social welfare offices to ensure evacuees’ needs are met. The DSWD has already provided PHP 532, 460 worth of food and non-food items to local governments in the affected areas, supplementing relief efforts led by municipal authorities.
Alan noted that DSWD Region II has a substantial reserve of emergency resources, with PHP139 million in relief supplies and a PHP 3 million standby fund for the immediate purchase of additional supplies. Among the available resources are 84,000 family food packs valued at PHP58 million, as well as non-food items such as sleeping kits, hygiene kits, and tents worth PHP78 million. To respond promptly to local requests, relief goods are stockpiled at DSWD warehouses in Abulug, Camalaniugan, Tuguegarao, Ilagan, and Santiago, adding to the supplies already pre-positioned by local government units.
The municipalities of Aparri, Pamplona, and Camalaniugan in Cagayan province have already requested additional family food packs due to the large number of evacuees.
As of the 8 p.m. bulletin from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), Typhoon Marce was located near Aparri Bay with maximum sustained winds of 175 km/h and gusts reaching up to 240 km/h. PAGASA has raised Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 4 for northern Cagayan, parts of Apayao, and areas in Ilocos Norte, indicating imminent, severe impacts from the typhoon.
Marce is projected to continue moving westward and may make another landfall along the coast of northwestern Cagayan before exiting toward the West Philippine Sea by early November 8.