DSWD set to deliver additional 100,000 food packs to Eastern Samar

The Department of Social Welfare and Development is among those at the forefront of responding to the needs of those affected by #RubyPH. The DSWD prepositioned needed relief supplies to augment resources of LGUs prior landfall, and further relief operations are well under way. (Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines’ Facebook page)

MANILA  — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is delivering an additional 100,000 food packs to Eastern Samar province as augmentation to the resources of the local government units (LGUS) there for families affected by typhoon “Ruby.”

“The department is set to deliver anytime today via C130 aircraft some 10,000 food packs initially from the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) to Borongan, Eastern Samar as augmentation to the resources of the LGU for the victims of typhoon Ruby,” the DSWD said on Sunday.

According to DSWD Assistant Secretary Vilma Cabrera, the food packs comprise the partial delivery of the total 100,000 additional food packs for Eastern Samar.

Cabrera said the CICC is currently being utilized as the central coordination point and a relief hub or repacking center for food packs to ensure faster delivery to the disaster operations in the Visayas and Mindanao because of its strategic location.

She also said that interested volunteers for the Cebu hub who want to extend help in the repacking of relief items may call or coordinate with Jo Belontindos at 09391748342.

Earlier, DSWD Secretary Corazon J. Soliman went to Cebu on Saturday to oversee the operations of the hub.

Soliman said that aside from the Cebu hub, the National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City continues its repacking activities as part of the efforts to provide augmentation support to the LGUs in the Bicol Region, MIMAROPA and other areas where the typhoon was expected to pass through.

Based on the lessons learned from typhoon “Yolanda” last year, the NROC was instructed to maintain 100,000 food packs at all times for faster and timely delivery to areas affected by a calamity.

As of Dec. 6, NROC had transported a total of 6,720 food packs and several non-food items to the Bicol Region using five trucks provided by the World Food Programme (WFP).

Likewise, at least 1,687 food packs were transported to the Office of Civil Defense Warehouse in Batangas City for distribution to Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, and another 1,687 food packs to Sangley Point in Cavite for distribution to Romblon.

NROC has also allocated available food packs for prepositioning activities in Central Luzon with 10,000 packs, MIMAROPA with 20,000 packs, and Southern Luzon with 5,000 packs.

To date as of 7 a.m., the total assistance extended to typhoon-affected families amounted to Php12.2 million — with Php10.7 million coming from DSWD and Php1.5 million from LGUs.

Based on immediately available, a total of 104,658 families or 352,799 persons have fled their homes and sought temporary shelter in 1,758 evacuation centers in typhoon-hit areas.

Aside from the food pack augmentation, DSWD social workers continue to give assistance to the LGUs affected in the management of the evacuation centers, especially on provision of hot meals, distribution of food packs, conduct of play therapy for children, and profiling of evacuees.

Members of the DSWD Quick Response Teams (QRT) also continue to serve 24/7 by coordinating with local disaster councils in the monitoring and assessing of the extent of damage as well as identification of other services needed by the affected families.