Tropical storm Ondoy’s onslaught did not only drive away multitudes of Pasig residents or trapped families inside their homes, it also washed up humongous pile of garbage enough to fill 100 dump trucks.
GINORMOUS. Ondoy's wrath triggered the unwanted dumping of heaps of garbages on the streets in badly hit areas like Marikina City. In Pasig City alone, authorities expect to collect filth that could fill up 100 dump trucks.. Mark Merueñas
Allen Angeles of the local government’s solid waste management department told GMANews.TV that they have already launched a massive clean-up drive to collect the huge amount of filth swept away by the floods. Angeles said the volumes of garbage that litter Pasig – one of the hardest hit cities – are made up of both “generated waste" (regular garbage produced in a households and establishments) and “bulky waste" (furniture and appliances destroyed by the floods). “We have started collecting garbage. But there is still a huge backlog or those pending collection," Angeles said, adding that the amount of filth swept away to land by Ondoy was the largest he has ever seen so far. So far the local government has collected garbage enough to fill up 30 dump trucks. Authorities hope to round up a third of the remaining garbage by Friday. He said most of the city’s 11 dump trucks, each one can carry 21 cubic meter of garbage, have begun the make the rounds in Pasig areas where floods have already subsided, among them the villages of Manggahan, Sta. Lucia, and Santolan.
CLEAN UP. After braving floods brought by Ondoy, Metro Manila residents from affected areas like Marikina City (shown in photo) are faced with the challenge of a massive clean-up. Mark Merueñas
Angeles said they could not yet use the remaining 40 smaller garbage trucks in areas where flood waters are still high. He said he did not know when the floods in other parts of Pasig would go down, but admitted it may take a little longer since the city is known to be a “catch basin" for flood water coming from other parts of Metro Manila. Initially, the local government was forced to use several dump trucks to transport relief goods to affected residents, thereby hampering garbage-collection operations. “Pero ngayon, back to normal na. We’re already fast tracking it (But operations have gone back to normal as we fast track our clean-up)," Angeles said. The Pasig official remains confident that though “little by little," garbage collection could be sped up with the help of “well-informed" Pasig residents. “
Tinuruan naman namin sila na huwag kaagad ilabas ang basura kapag wala pa ang mga dump trucks at hindi pa bumababa ang tubig (We taught our people to properly manage their garbage)," Angeles said. “
Kaya kung titignan niyo, compared to other cities, wala masyadong basura na palutang-lutang sa baha (If you notice, not too many garbage could be seen floating in the floods)," he added.
Click
here to view a full screen version of the GMANews.TV 'Ondoy' slide show.
- GMANews.TV 
GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
