RELIEF OPERATION. Family food packs for victims of Typhoon Egay are being readied for distribution in this undated photo. Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian ordered the immediate delivery of additional 20,000 FFPs to Ilocos, one of the regions hit hard by Egay. (Photo from DSWD website)
MANILA – Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Thursday ordered the immediate delivery of additional 20,000 family food packs (FFPs) to Ilocos, one of the hardest-hit regions in Northern Luzon by Super Typhoon Egay.
Gatchalian directed the Disaster Response and Management Group (DRMG) chief, Assistant Secretary Marlon Alagao, to use its service providers for the immediate dispatch of the FFPs in response to the urgent request by the concerned regions.
“Let’s dispatch whatever it takes. Have your service providers dispatch now the requested food packs by the concerned regions,” Gatchalian told Alagao.
On Thursday, the DSWD Ilocos Regional Office downloaded 10,000 FFPs to the Ilocos Norte provincial government, which declared a state of calamity in the province due to the massive flooding and damages brought by Egay.
Ilocos Regional Director Marie Angela Gopalan has requested an additional 20,000 FFPs from the DSWD Central Office to replenish their stocks of food packs.
The DSWD-DRMG earlier successfully dispatched some 17,000 FFPs to four warehouses in Cagayan, Isabela and Quirino provinces in Cagayan Valley Region that bore the brunt of the super typhoon.
The strong winds and heavy rains in Ilocos Norte caused damages to the DSWD regional warehouse in Laoag City, damaging some 1,000 food boxes.
The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) Field Office has also requested 10,000 FFPs for the replenishment of their stocks.
The DSWD Ilocos Regional Office has so far provided a total of PHP8.3 million worth of humanitarian aid to families and individuals affected by Egay, which enhanced the southwest monsoon that caused heavy rains in the region.
Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez, also DSWD spokesperson, assured the victims of the typhoon that the DSWD Ilocos Regional Office still has enough relief supplies despite the damage caused by heavy rains to its stockpile in Laoag City.
“We have enough resources in our Field Office 1. Our regional office and its warehouses have more than 77,000 FFPs and over 28,000 non-food items around Ilocos Region. These can be immediately delivered to different provinces in the region so our kababayans should not worry if there were water-damaged FFPs,” Lopez said.
The DSWD will also continue to monitor the condition of 875 displaced families who are currently staying in 108 evacuation centers in the Ilocos Region, he added. (PNA)
