The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Sunday said power is restored in 150 cities that have been hit by Typhoon Odette, while 114 areas now have telecommunication signals.
NDRRMC Mark Timbal told DZRH that 281 cities lost electricity because of Typhoon Odette, with 150 of them now seeing power restored.
"Hindi po natin isinama sa bilang natin yung partially restored pa lang, kumabaga may mga street na wala, may mga area nung bayan na wala," he said.
(We did not count areas where power is only partially restored. For example, there are streets where there is still no power, or areas in a municipality where there is none.)
"Pero marami po diyan, mga partially restored at patuloy po 'yung pagkukumpuni na ginagawa ng mga kasamahan natin dito sa power utilities bilang part ng commitment nila na sa lalong madaling panahon, makabalik po itong serbisyo ng kuryente," he continued.
(But majority of them are partially restored now and reparations by our colleagues from power utilities are ongoing as part of their commitment to restore power and delivery services.)
In terms of telecommunication, 371 areas have lost signal, according to Timbal, but it has been restored in 114 of them.
He added that this is due to the swift deployment of the government emergency communication system and immediate response of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Office of Civil Defense, and the private sector.
"Nag-deploy po tayo ng mga klase ng equipment sa iba't ibang mga lugar para matulungan yung mga disaster management natin sa pag-uulat at kordinasyon," Timbal said.
(We deployed different kinds of equipment to different areas to help disaster management in reporting and coordination.)
"'Yung private sector naman po nagtayo ng mobile cell site, at dun may libreng tawag, may libreng connection sa internet para makapag-communicate iyong mga kababayan natin," he added.
(The private sector has erected mobile cell sites that offer free calls and free internet connection to help our countrymen communicate.)
