Gov. Daza distributes relief goods to Northern Samar flood victims

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
January 7, 2007

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  For Northern Samar Governor Raul Daza, there is no weekdays or weekends when it comes to reaching out to his needy constituents.

This weekend, Governor Daza when reached by the Philippine Information Agency, was busy going around the 35 barangays of Catarman, Northern Samar, giving relief goods to the 16,000 families who were affected by the flooding which occurred just before the year 2006 bid goodbye.

Governor Daza said that together with the officials of the province, he is distributing six kilos of rice, sardines and noodles plus P500 in cash to each of the 16,000 affected families in the province of Northern Samar.

He said that this is the best the province could do while waiting for more help from the National government and other donors. He said that the national government, through the National Disaster Coordinating Council, has sent 500 sacks of rice to the province and the province requested NDCC through the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council for another 500 sacks of rice.

Governor Daza added that 82 barangays in the eight municipalities of Northern Samar namely, Catarman, Pambujan, Silvino Lobos, Mondragon, San Roque, Catubig, Lope de Vega and Las Navas, were affected by the flooding. He said that in Catarman alone, 36 barangays were affected.

The active Governor sighed that a total of 609 houses were damaged (164 - totally and 445 partially damaged) in Catarman, Northern Samar.

To make the situation worse, a landslide occurred in Brgy. Diit de Suba, Silvino Lobos, Northern Samar which buried a house. Six were confirmed dead and 3 were injured.