563 people rescued during PNP Odette operations

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday reported that they rescued 563 individuals during 41 rescue and relief operations in Typhoon Odette-stricken areas.

The PNP said its units were also continuing to provide assistance and security in 7,201 evacuation centers where 2,432 families, comprising 100,353 individuals, have sought temporary shelter.

Department of Social Welfare and Development spokesperson Irene Dumlao said there were over 2,000 evacuation centers that were catering to 270,000 people or 74,000 families in the regions of Caraga, Eastern and Western Visayas, and Mimaropa, as of 6 a.m. on Sunday.

There are also about 28,000 individuals or 7,000 families taking temporary shelter in other homes in these areas.

Meanwhile, the PNP Command Center reported that five PNP facilities in the Eastern Visayas and Bangsamoro Autonomous Regional were damaged by Typhoon Odette, while 210 police personnel were listed among the victims.

Further, the PNP said they had restored communications with their units in affected areas in the Visayas, Mindanao, and Mimaropa despite massive outages of telecom services in some 704 areas.

“The PNP communication lines and supply continue to be operational in all Police Regional Offices, ensuring effective command and control to supervise and direct post-disaster relief and rehabilitation operations,” PNP Chief Police General Dionardo Carlos said in a statement.

Carlos said this amid his aerial sorties and inspections in Central and Western Visayas while on his way to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte in Mindanao.

The Chief PNP said both conventional and alternative communication systems have to remain operational to keep the PNP Command Group in touch with PNP units through the PNP Command Center.

“Lessons learned from the Yolanda experience taught us to continue to maintain conventional communication systems as back-up for modern digital telecommunications infrastructure,” he added. — DVM, GMA News