TACLOBAN CITY– The province of Samar is now under a state of calamity due to the massive flooding and landslide incidents it experienced resulting in the dislocation of more than 20,000 families.
The declaration was made possible after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of the province approved Resolution Number 17-206-23 during their regular session on Tuesday (Nov.17).
The resolution was approved by the provincial board after the Provincial Risk Reduction Management Council headed by Gov. Sharee Ann Tan, endorsed the move.
The move to place the entire province of Samar, composed of the cities of Calbayog and Catbalogan and 24 municipalities, was in the aftermath of the massive and continuous rains brought by shear line and trough of a low pressure area from Jan 9 to 14 of this year.
“Whereas, initial reports indicated that 214,160 individuals were directly affected by flooding and landslide incidents at their respective local governments, which corresponds to 27% of the total population of the province,” part of the resolution said, citing among its reason.
The province has a total population of 793,183 based on the 2020 census of the Philippine Statistics Authority.
The same resolution also said that the province sustained P214.26 million of its agriculture sector due to the incessant rains, damaging more than 7.500 hectares of palay of which 3,042 has were totally damaged.
Earlier, the towns of Basey, Gandara and San Jorge and the city of Calbayog have declared state of calamities due to the nonstop rains.
With the declaration, all three provinces of Samar Island are now under a state of calamity due to the inclement weather.
Eastern Samar declared a state of calamity last Jan.6 with the province of Northern Samar doing the same 10 days later, or on Jan. 16. (JOEY A. GABIETA/LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)
