Flood-hit Maguindanao del Sur placed under state of calamity
COTABATO CITY—Maguindanao del Sur Gov. Datu Ali Midtimbang has approved the provincial board’s resolution placing the entire province under state of calamity on Monday following last week’s flooding that affected 61,598 families or 307,000 residents in the province.
Among those displaced were at least 250 patients who had to be evacuated from the Buluan District Hospital and moved to the provincial capitol building on Friday at the height of flooding.
Vice Gov. Hashim Nando said the declaration would allow the provincial government to intensify relief operations for flood victims.
Midtimbang also suspended classes in all levels both in private and public schools in the towns of Datu Piang, Mangudadatu and Pagalungan as most of the town’s villages remained under water.
Help coming
Heavily flooded towns included Pagalungan, Datu Montawal, Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Datu Paing, Datu Salibo, Sultan sa Barongis, Mangudadatu and General Salipada K. Pendatun, said Windy Anne Joy Beaty, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO).
Also flooded were low-lying communities in the towns Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak, Datu Abdullah Sangki, Datu Saudi Ampatuan, Paglat, Pandag and Mamasapano.
Bangsamoro Interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua visited the patients and their watchers at the provincial capitol building on Monday as floodwater near the hospital compound had yet to subside.
Macacua assured the patients and all families affected by floods that the regional government would attend to their needs.
The regional government distributed rice and nonfood items in the hospital during his visit.
It was learned that hospital equipment, machines and important documents had been hauled to higher grounds as floodwater continued to submerge a large part of Buluan town.
Most of the affected families were home-based while others were evacuated to higher grounds, said Beaty, who made the report during an emergency meeting here.
