MANILA --The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Sunday vowed to work round the clock to assist families affected by typhoon “Vinta” by suspending the holiday break for its field offices in the affected regions.
"We would like to assure the Filipino people that the DSWD is closely monitoring the situation and that our Field Offices in the affected regions continue to operate with no holiday break so we can provide all the assistance that is within our mandate to give to affected families,” DSWD officer-in-charge Emmanuel A. Leyco said.
DSWD’s field offices in Cagayan de Oro has been directed to conduct monitoring inspection in Tubod and Salvador, Lanao del Norte and to check on the status and needs of the families affected by flashfloods due to Vinta.
In the meantime, Regional Quick Response Teams from Regions Caraga, 10 and 11, Mimaropa are still activated to provide technical assistance and resource augmentation to affected provinces/local government units and ensure that they can respond quickly to requests for augmentation and assistance.
Leyco added that they would coordinate with the rest of the national government as well as local government units to ensure that assistance is extended to the affected families.
"It is painful for us to receive reports of the increasing number of Filipinos affected by the typhoon, especially so that this is the Christmas season. We appeal to the rest of the Filipino people to please spare a thought for our kababayans who have lost their loved ones or those who are now in the evacuation centers and unable to celebrate with their families," he added
Based on latest reports from the field, there are a total of 13,927 families or 59,851 persons are currently staying inside 213 evacuation centers in Regions 4-B, 9, 10, 11, and Caraga.
The DSWD official also shared that many internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Marawi who are still staying in tents were also affected by Vinta.
"We have advised them to move out temporarily and stay in school buildings for safety. We are coordinating with the disaster and relief units of local government units on these efforts," he said.
The Iligan Operation Center has issued a directive to all camp managers to monitor the situation of evacuation camps occupied by IDPs of the Marawi siege 24/7.
"Disaster and relief units in Surigao City have assisted 16 stranded passengers, staying in Mariano Memorial School because the passenger capacity of vessels has been maximized. Thankfully, port operations in Lipata and in Surigao City have already resumed and shipping vessels are now permitted to travel," he said.
Meanwhile, he added that DSWD Central Office is currently procuring more tents for IDPs.
"Our DSWD Field Office 9 is conducting an assessment based on the request of LGUs for augmentation support to affected families. We are coordinating with the Logistic Cluster for the transport of food and non-food items to DSWD-FO 10 tomorrow, Christmas Day -- our assistance will be comprised of packs of ready to eat arroz caldo (14,300 packs), brown rice bars (3,500 pieces), infant cereal (1,000 packs), laminated sacks (100 pieces), collapsible water containers (2,000 pieces), plastic mats (687 pieces), mosquito nets (2,000 pieces) and blankets, " he added.
In the meantime, DSWD-Caraga has released 500 family food packs amounting to PHP141,900 to the affected families in Surigao City. DSWD-10 also provided 254 family food packs in response to the request of the local government unit of Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental. (PNA)
