Lack of power, congested ports hound Yolanda-stricken areas

Six days after Typhoon Yolanda struck the Central Philippines, officials are scrambling to restore power and communication lines and are struggling to manage bottlenecks in damaged air- and seaports that have hampered relief efforts.

 

Mylene Capongcol, director at the Energy Department, said in a telephone interview Thursday that the National Electrification Administration eyes full restoration of electricity to affected areas “on or before December 24.”  

 

The energy sector is struggling to bring back power after Typhoon Yolanda's sustained winds of up to 313 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 378 kph toppled transmission towers and poles.

 

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), operator of the country's power transmission highway, still needs to repair 566 towers and hundreds more poles forced down by strong winds, said Elmer Cruz, the firm's communications officer, in a separate telephone interview. 

 

Cruz said Leyte, Samar, and Biliran provinces are still isolated from the power grid as are portions of Capiz, Aklan, Antique, and Iloilo. 

 

“It will take time because nothing has been spared,” said the Department of Energy's Capongcol. 

 

The dire power situation only adds to mounting logistics frustrations caused by congested ports. 

 

No boats “cleared to dock"

 

Edna Blanco, technical officer at Philippine Ports Authority, said Guiuan town in Samar province, where Typhoon Yolanda first made landfall, “still has no commercial links, no boats are cleared to dock.” 

 

Palompon seaport in Leyte province does not have a commercial link yet either.

 

Ports in Borongan, Calbayog, Catbalogan in Samar, and Tacloban, Ormoc, Baybay, Maasin, Hilongos in Leyte “are operational,” she added. 

 

In Isabel, Leyte, meanwhile, a private port of Philippine Associated Smelting and Refining Corp. is being used to ferry goods and people. 

 

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines has limited flights to Tacloban City, a badly-hit area where 10,000 are feared dead, to give relief operations a priority.

 

The city's airport – whose communication tower and radar equipment were totally damaged – is overwhelmed by an influx of goods, aid workers, local and international media, and family members searching for loved ones. 

 

Other affected airports reopened Monday, except for Catbalogan airport in Western Samar. 

 

The aviation authority is meeting on the situation as of this posting. 

 

One-stop shops

 

In an attempt to deal with a logistical nightmare, the government has activated “one-stop shops” (OSSs) for the processing of relief goods and other aid-related equipment donated by the international community. 

 

The OSSs are located at entry points in Tacloban and Cebu as well as at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in the capital region, Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon said Thursday.

 

Cebu Air Inc., the operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, mounted daily Airbus A320 flights between Manila and Tacloban from Thursday until Friday.

 

Cebu Pacific will also be operating four flights a day to Tacloban from Cebu City, a nearby metropolis relatively unscathed by the typhoon.

 

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines has been transporting critical supplies and relief goods on a turboprop plane from Manila to Tacloban City Airport since Monday. Six PAL Express flights between Cebu and Tacloban have also been available since Monday.

 

But “with no electricity and communications in Tacloban,” Cebu Pacific said on Thursday that priority is being given to “passengers affected by flight cancellations” and those traveling for “humanitarian purposes and relief.”  

 

Globe Telecom Inc. said Thursday that nearly 70 percent of affected cell sites in Visayas have been restored while Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. reported 84-percent network coverage in cities and municipalities affected. — JDS, GMA News