Regions battered by Typhoon Odette may have to wait until February 2022 to get power back but water service might be restored in 15 days, government officials said Sunday.
In an interview on radio dzBB, Mark Timbal, spokesman for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said it could take up to February next year before power is restored in all affected areas.
He said in areas where houses have been destroyed, the government would need to take care of that first before restoring power.
Power has been restored to 150 of 269 cities and municipalities that suffered outages due to the typhoon.
Odette-hit.
From A1The Department of Energy on Saturday assured the public that power in some areas of the Visayas and Mindanao would be completely restored before the May 2022 elections.
The National Electrification Administration, in its latest report, said six electric cooperatives still did not have power, affecting more than 2 million customers in 167 municipalities. Power had been partially restored to 87 municipalities, the agency added.
Meanwhile, the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) said it aims to fix water systems that were damaged by Odette in 15 days.
About half of 181 water districts in six regions were affected by Typhoon Odette, LWUA administrator Guiling Mamondiong told radio dzBB.
A disaster official in Bohol said the province is still in need of food and water as relief efforts continued.
Talking to ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo, Anthony Damalerio with the Bohol Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office appealed to donors to coordinate with local officials to ensure equal distribution of aid.
“We will be needing more food items, ready-to-eat food items and water,” Damalerio said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said residents in Bohol were also in need of generator sets as power remains a problem in the province.