Iloilo City (CNN Philippines) — Western Visayas (Region 6) will get 60 percent less rain from October 2015 to April 2016 because of El Niño, according to Oscar Tabada, officer-in-charge of the Visayas Regional Service Division of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
Tabada shared the prediction at a meeting-workshop conducted last Thursday (September 10) by the Iloilo Provincial Task Force on El Niño. Participants of the workshop identified various programs to address the effect of the phenomenon on agriculture, potable water sources, and fisheries.
Tabada advised local governments in the region to declare a state of calamity once they start feelubg the effects of the seven-month drought.
Rosario Cabrera, chairperson of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC-6), said an area could be declared under state of calamity if two or more guidelines set by the council occur.
“The conditions include extent of population affected, loss of livelihood, damage on infrastructure and agriculture and effect on farmers,” Cabrera said.
During its third quarter meeting on Friday (September 11), the RDRRMC-6 also identified measures to mitigate the effects of the drought.
Meanwhile, Provincial Administrator Raul Banias said Iloilo officials would conduct as soon as possible a province-wide information caravan to increase people’s awareness of the effects of El Niño.
