MORE HELP COMING. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) prepares family food packs to be distributed to typhoon-affected families who are staying in evacuation camps. Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Marie Rafael, along with her family and some volunteers, helped in the repacking of goods on Nov. 21, 2020. (Photo courtesy of DSWD-CAR)
MANILA – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it is continuously providing assistance to victims of Typhoon Ulysses.
DSWD-Disaster Response Operations Monitoring Information Center (Dromic) said in its latest bulletin that the office has pooled its budget with local government unit (LGU) funds, non-government organizations (NGOs), and private sources, which amounted to more than PHP131,835,834 as of Nov. 23.
Dromic said the agency has been giving food, cash, and psychosocial support to affected families in parts of the National Capital Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Bicol.
According to its assessment, some 995,476 families or 4,079,739 individuals in 6,644 barangays suffered losses from the onslaught of the typhoon.
About 34,232 families or 139,443 individuals are staying inside 670 evacuation centers.
DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista said the agency has set up ‘friendly spaces’ for children and women inside the evacuation camps.
The agency also assured adequate supply of food and non-food items.
On Friday, DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao provided some of their recently released augmentation efforts for the LGUs.
In Cagayan Province, PHP 22 million worth of food and non-food items were delivered by DSWD in Cagayan Valley to affected areas in the region, she said.
The field office has also started distributing burial assistance amounting to PHP10,000 each to bereaved family in the towns of Alcala, Gonzaga, Gattaran, and Tuguegarao City in Cagayan, as well as in Maddela and Nagtipunan, Quirino.
In addition, the office also sent 1,000 family food packs (FFPs) to Alcala and Enrile, Cagayan.
DSWD Calabarzon, for its part, extended some PHP13.6 million worth of augmentation assistance to the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, and Quezon.
In the Bicol Region, the DSWD office there provided 27,266 family food packs to affected areas in Albay, Camarines Sur, and Camarines Norte, amounting to PHP13.8 million.
In addition, non-food items composed of 13,028 pieces of malong, 300 sleeping kits, and 1,738 laminated sacks were also distributed to affected families and individuals.
Overall, DSWD assistance to the Bicol region climbed to PHP18.7 million.
In the National Capital Region, DSWD-NCR extended 13,430 FFPs and 1,200 sleeping kits to affected LGUs amounting to more than Php7.7 million. (PNA)
