LEGAZPI CITY — The Department of Social Welfare Development (DSWD) regional office in Bicol assured the families affected by the ongoing Mayon eruption that the agency can provide food packs for 20,000 families for 100 days, if needed.
Arnel Garcia, DSWD regional director, in a press conference at the Albay Public Safety Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) said that the agency can call its national office to augment delivery of family food packs amounting to PHP402 million to sustain the food requirement of 20,000 families for three months.
“Hindi po kayo mauubusan ng pagkain at tulong dahil may karanasan na tayo sa malawakang evacuation noon (You will not run out of food and government aid because we have experienced extensive evacuation before),” he said.
As of the press time, the province of Albay, through its provincial government and the city government of Legazpi, already received total assistance cost of PHP17,123,024.72 covering the following food and non-food items: 13,503 family food packs worth PhP 5.2 million; 14,000 pieces of malong – PHP3.5 million; 6,503 pieces dignity kit – PHP7 million; 2,000 pieces assorted toys – PHP194,880; and 6,503 pieces blanket – PHP 1.1 million.
Based on the 12 noon DSWD data today, January 26, there were 19,249 affected families or 74,290 individuals coming from nine municipalities namely, Camalig, Daraga, Guinobatan, Ligao City, Malilipot, Tabaco City, Sto. Domingo, Bacacay and Legazpi City.
DSWD still expects the number of evacuees to rise as Mayon Volcano remains under Alert Level 4 status.
Moreover, the DSWD Regional Office requested a total of 69,000 family food packs from its national office.
Twelve trucks of the World Food Programme ferried a total of 19,500 (FFPs) from the national office today while the Provincial Government of Albay picked up 4,343.
One (1) DSWD family food pack contains six (6) kilos of rice, four (4) tin cans of corned beef, four (4) tin cans of sardines and six (6) packs of energy drink or coffee sufficient for five members of a family good for two days. The LGUs also provide relief supplies to affected families but the packaging and contents vary.
Meanwhile, in a meeting of the Quick Response Teams (QRTs) Thursday afternoon, Corazon Pitero, Social Welfare Officer, emphasized the importance of validating the data enclosed in the disaster report submitted by the LGUs.
She said that the generated reports are the basis of DSWD, other national government agencies (NGAs) and non-government organizations (NGOs) for the relief efforts.
The QRT members will also provide technical assistance to LGUs specifically the camp managers, local social welfare and development offices (LSWDOs) and local disaster risk reduction and management offices (LDRRMOs) in the protection of the rights of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) or the evacuees.
“We look after the safety and wellbeing of our IDPs specially the vulnerable groups including the elderly, women, children and persons with disability (PWDs),” Garcia added.
Evacuation centers should be clean, healthy and safe for everyone.
DSWD recommends these evacuation centers to have child-friendly spaces for their protection and women-friendly spaces for gender sensitivity.
The QRT will also monitor the general facilities if there are existing medial stations, hand washing and laundry areas, waste disposal area, kitchen for cooking, breastfeeding rooms, conjugal rooms and domestic animal pens. (/PNA)
