QUEZON CITY — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to augment the resources of local government units (LGUs) that are still reeling from the effects of Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, an agency official said on Monday, October 28.
“Under the directives of Secretary Rex Gatchalian, the DSWD still has sufficient stockpiles prepositioned in the agency’s hubs, spokes, and last mile warehouses in all FOs (Field Offices) to meet the requirements of LGUs for their respective disaster operations,” Special Assistant to the Secretary (SAS) for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) and Concurrent Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the National Resource and Logistics Management Bureau (NRLMB) Leo Quintilla said.
As of 6 a.m. of October 27, a total of 672,837 boxes of family food packs (FFPs) have been released by the DSWD to the LGUs of the disaster-affected regions.
More than 200,000 boxes of FFPs were delivered to Bicol Region alone, which was the hardest-hit region by the weather disturbance, according to the DSWD official.
Of the total number, 78,613 boxes of FFPs were brought to Camarines Sur; 61,742 to Albay; 41,553 to Camarines Norte; 17,536 to Sorsogon; and 11,881 to Catanduanes. A total of 31 boxes of FFPs were also given to stranded passengers in Cataingan in Masbate.
SAS Quintilla also reported that as of press time, the agency has 331,354 boxes of FFPs available in the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City, while 207,048 boxes of FFPs are currently prepositioned at the Visayas Disaster Resource Center (VDRC) in Mandaue City, Cebu.
Some 1,329,331 boxes of FFPs are also available at all DSWD FOs ready to be tapped for the affected regions under the agency’s interoperability scheme in times of disasters.
Two vessels of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) carrying a total of 14,000 boxes of FFPs from the VDRC departed on the morning of October 28 from the Port of Cebu going to Bicol Region.
“We are expecting that more assistance will be provided to affected residents within the week. Our DRMG is also preparing for the early recovery phase to help all disaster-affected citizens in restoring their damaged homes,” SAS Quintilla said. (DSWD)
