The Quezon City government has released the guidelines on COVID-19 preparedness measures during floods and other disasters that may happen during the wet season.
“The impact of COVID-19 has really been a big challenge as to our preparedness in times of calamities during the rainy season,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
“We have to consider too many things now, especially when it comes to physical distancing and the transfer of COVID-19 patients from their isolation facility to the evacuation center,” she added.
The guidelines are designed to ensure continuing mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic even in the course of dealing with floods, typhoons and other perennial rainy season disaster risks, she said.
Under Belmonte’s order, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office shall maintain a list of flood-prone areas and identify evacuation locations for each place, particularly schools and covered courts.
An up-to-date list of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases in each flood-prone area would be maintained so they could be transported and sheltered separately from the general evacuee population.