UPLB, UP Alumni, BU, NGO, & LGUs team up for Mayon eruption relief operations
- Written by Jose Elmo H. Azores
- Published in News
© OVCRE/Jose Elmo H. Azores
UPLB cooperated with the Albay Local Climate Change Adaptation for Development (LCCAD-Albay), UP Alumni Association-Mayon (UPAA-Mayon), Bicol University, and LGUs of Camalig, Guinobatan, and Ligao in holding on-ground community appraisals in several evacuation sites in Albay last 10-11 February 2018.
UPLB was represented by a team composed of faculty and REPS from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE), College of Agriculture and Food Sciences (CAFS), College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), and the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod.
The team met with representatives of the partner agencies and conducted needs assessment in selected evacuation sites set up by the government to receive evacuees from areas under calamitious conditions due to the eruption of Mayon Volcano. The team also assisted in distribution of relief goods in Tabaco North Central School.
The eruption was reported to have caused agricultural loss in about PhP 6 million on crops. Furthermore, reports also showed that nine towns and municipalities were affected and about 17,346 families have been evacuated and were affected by the calamity.
UPLB will finalize a program of action based on the recommendations of the team. Tentatively, immediate action will be plotted for relief operations specifically because of the urgent need for animal food supplements, sleeping mats and seed donations, grassroots post-disaster livestock management seminars and protective culture for high value crops.
