Damage assessment teams to be deployed in Marawi once it’s cleared of Maute: NDRRMC

June 15, 2017

The Philippine government will deploy rapid damage and needs assessment teams once the war-torn Marawi City is cleared of terrorists, an official said on Thursday. In a press briefing un Malacanang, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Executive Director Ricardo Jalad said the governmetn is currently still in "response phase" for those affected in Marawi. But he noted President Rodrigo Duterte is set to issue an executive order on the rehabilitation program, dubbed as "Bangon Marawi" with an initial fund of P10 billion. "The 10 billion (pesos) is just a tentative figure, but the exact figure will be determined once we conduct the study, the assessment, and then formulate the rehab plan," he said. In conducting the assessment in Marawi, Jalad said the government would be tapping the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao government to be augmented with the people from nearby regions, particularly from Region XII. "So in the conduct of the needs assessment, we don’t need an EO. So we will come in as soon as Marawi is cleared," he said. He said if Duterte wants to fast-track the rehabilitation and recovery of Marawi, he could designate an overall head for this. As of Wednesday, Jalad said 66,738 families composed of 324,406 individuals have been displaced from Marawi City and Marantao town in Lanao del Sur.   Of the total displaced individuals, he said only about five percent have been staying inside 79 evacuation centers in Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Cagayan de Oro City, while the remaining 95 percent have been staying in the houses of their relatives and friends or what the government calls as "home-based" internally displaced persons. Jalad said as of Wednesday, the Department of Health reported about 15 evacuees have been hospitalized due to illness, such as diarrhea. But he assured that there was no epidemic outbreak in any evacuation center. "And DOH has activated also its surveillance system to monitor occurrence of epidemic, so far there’s none," he said. (Celerina Monte/DMS)