TACLOBAN CITY (PIA) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Eastern Visayas has already prepositioned family food packs and non-food items in the six provinces of the region.
DSWD-8 Regional Director Grace Subong said this during the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Special Coordination Meeting on Wednesday, November 13, in preparation for the approaching weather disturbance outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) threatening some parts of the region.
“Basically, we have a total of 84,738 family food packs as of today (November 13) and these are spread in the six provinces particularly Northern Samar and Eastern Samar where we deployed our team,” Subong said.
Subong added that they are expecting more stockpile of family food packs before the end of November.
As of November 13, DSWD-8 has a total standby funds of P112,097,587.11 to include the amount of stockpile of family food packs and non-food items which are prepositioned in 64 strategic sites in the region.
The DSWD-8 also deployed its Mobile Command Center (MCC) to Eastern Samar in order to boost the agency’s disaster operations and response in areas that are likely to be affected by the typhoon.
“This is the first time that we will be deploying that, bago-bago yan kaya blessed talaga ang region na we will be able to have that,” Subong said.
The Mobile Command Center, manned by an MCC deployment team, ensures a continuous, effective, reliable and timely emergency telecommunications support on disaster reports.
It is equipped with communication devices, generator, wi-fi connection and other electronic equipment which can be used during emergencies.
According to Pagasa, as of 10 a.m. Thursday, Tropical Man-Yi was located at 1,375 kilometers east of Northeastern Mindanao with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 105 kilometers per hour. It moves west southwestward at 25 kilometers per hour. It will be called Pepito once it enter PAR. (CBA, PIA Eastern Visayas)
