Sunday
At the meeting of the National Disaster Control Council in my study at 12:00 AM [sic] I announced:
The proclamation of a stole of national emergency in 14 provinces: Benguet, Pangasinan, Quezon including the sub-province of Aurora, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Bataan, Zambales, Laguna, Cavite and Greater Manila.
The postponement of the Sept. 1st for as long as may be necessary for farmers to replant destroyed crops, repair destroyed dikes and irrigation systems and for the government to repair and rehabilitate destroyed infrastructure and relocate families whose homes was destroyed.
The flood is not as bad as the July-August flood of 1972.
We have enough food supplies in cities. The NGA [National Grains Authority] rice supply nationwide is good for 30 days and the farmers in Central Luzon have one month and a half supply of rice.
There has been no rain in the south. Sec. [Jose] Roño who just arrived from Cebu and Panay says they are in need of rain there.
The rainfall this year has been concentrated in time and place compared to the 1972 flood.
Thus in 1972 in 44 days there was a rainfall of 181 inches while this year in one week there was rainfall of 186 inches.
The 1972 rainfall was spread all over Central Luzon, Northern Luzon and Southern Luzon while the 1974 rainfall was concentrated in Pampanga and Bulacan as well as Greater Manila.
In 1972 the hardest rainfall was 126 millimeters in a day while on August 17, 1974 it rained 187.9 millimeters.
But the sun is out in Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan up north. And the rains have stopped.