When Typhoon Tino roared across Western Visayas, Iloilo City stood its ground — and not a single life was lost.
Behind the city’s zero-casualty record was one decisive move: Mayor Raisa Treñas’s early order for preventive evacuation, a call that’s believed to have saved hundreds of lives before the winds even hit.
“It was a gamble we couldn’t afford to lose,” said Darwin Joemil Papa, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO). “Without preemptive evacuation, we would’ve seen casualties, especially in areas where trees crushed homes.”
CDRRMO projections had painted a grim scenario — as many as 40,000 families could have been affected, with half of them forced to flee had Tino made a direct landfall. Up to 10,000 houses were expected to suffer damage, 10 to 20 percent of them totally destroyed.
Instead, the early evacuation worked. By 4 a.m., Situation Report No. 8 from the Iloilo City Emergency Operations Center logged 5,182 families or 18,066 individuals safely evacuated from 121 barangays.
The typhoon still left scars: 266 homes damaged (243 partially, 23 totally), 113 trees uprooted, and 20 electric posts toppled. But these were scenes of loss — not tragedy.
As skies cleared, families began trickling back to their homes while city teams fanned out to clear roads, restore power, and assess damage.
For now, Iloilo City stands as a model of readiness — proof that leadership, timing, and discipline can mean the difference between survival and sorrow.IMT
