Tsunami warnings, forced evacuation meant fewer victims

MANILA, Philippines - Two Eastern Visayas lawmakers believe tsunami  warnings and forced evacuations from coastal barangays in the direct path of Super Typhoon Yolanda led to relatively low or zero casualties in some areas of Eastern Samar and Leyte.

Representatives Sergio Apostol of Leyte and Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar  said lessons can be learned from local governments that survived the onslaught of Yolanda with minimal casualties.

Apostol said eight out of 14 towns in his district with a combined population of over 300,000 had total casualty of about 100.

“Authorities told them there would be a tsunami, so they fled to the interior,” he said in Filipino.

Simple folk understood what a tsunami is, compared to a storm surge that disaster and weather officials had repeatedly warned about, he added.

Evardone said local governments played a crucial role in evacuating coastal barangays in his district.

“They used the military and the police to conduct forced evacuations,” he said.

Evardone said the towns of Balangkayan, Maydulong, Sulat, San Julia and Macarthur did not register any casualties.

“I think LGUs nationwide can draw lessons and share good practices,” he said.

Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores and Rep. Teodorico Haresco said simple and practical preparations helped minimize casualties in their province to only 11 dead.

Of those who died, three expired in the hospital due to heart attack, they said.

“This is not even one percent of the total affected persons, which we determined to be about 447,000, in 338 barangays,” Haresco said. “We followed the instructions of the President to prepare, even though our province is poor.”