BALER, Aurora—What’s in the colors yellow, green and red?
Of course, they are part of the colors of the rainbow, also known as ROYGBIV (meaning red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet).
But to disaster officials and local folks in this capital town, yellow, green and red means one thing : residents should be prepared to deal with an incoming disaster.
Municipal Risk Reduction and Management Office chief Gabriel Llave said under the color-coding scheme, poles and trees in low-lying and flood-prone communities are painted with the three colors indicating the gravity of the incoming calamity.
He explained that every pole is painted up to six-feet high starting from the ground. From the base, the color yellow is applied two feet high, followed by green for the next two feet and red in the last two feet.
Each of the color has a corresponding meaning. Yellow means every family must prepare for possible evacuation. Green means everyone should seek high ground while red alerts residents to flee and relocate to evacuation center to prevent loss of lives.
The three colors are being announced through the “bandillo” or a public announcement.
Llave said the colors now not only give hundreds of poles and trees in the calamity-prone areas aesthetic beauty but also serve as alarm signals and help save lives.
He said the scheme was initially employed during typhoon Santi when 108 families from barangays Pingit, Reserva, Sabang and Zabali fled to evacuation centers in Sentro Baler, public schools and municipal hall.
Llave said the color scheme was adopted by the MDRRMO after they found difficulty rescuing 74 individuals who fled their houses after three days of torrential rains which dumped up to five feet of floodwaters at Sitio Gabgab, Barangay Buhangin last year.
At the same time, Llave said the MDRRMO has been on alert due to continous rains the past four days. He said they have been monitoring the situation in all barangays, including roads and bridges in Barangay Obligacion and a portion of the provincial road from Sitio Curva, Suklayin to Sitio Setan, Calabuanan at the portion of national road between Pudoc Bridge and Aguang Bridge in Barangay Buhan.
Aside from these areas, other identified low-lying areas were Sitio Tirong, Barangay Obligacion; Sitio Baclaran, Barangay Suklayin; Sitio Dipakpak, Barangay Reserva and Poblacion 1 to 5.
lave said local folks in these areas have undergone seminars on disaster preparedness. He said the Bihasa administration has purchased two loaders, a back hoe and loader which are now being used to clean up all creeks in this municipality to make sure that the water will flow to Pudoc river.
He added that in case of emergency, they are ready to evacuate families, even forcibly since forced evacuation has been legislated in an ordinance, with penalties for violators, including fine and imprisonment for local government officials.
The ordinance, which was enacted during the time of Mayor Nelianto Bihasa when he was still vice mayor, will be enforced when a disaster or a state of emergency is declared in the town and the danger of loss of lives becomes imminent.
Section 7 of the ordinance stipulates that any public official found to violate any of the pertinent provisions of the ordinance shall be penalized a maximum fine of P2,500 or a prison term of six months or both upon the discretion of the court without prejudice to administrative sanctions as may be imposed under existing laws, rules and regulations.
