DSWD aids 120K families affected by ‘Odette’

MANILA – After network signals were reactivated, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has collected data from its field offices in the Visayas and Mindanao on the number of families affected by Typhoon Odette since Thursday.

As of Saturday, the DSWD said there are an estimated 400,000 individuals or about 120,000 families from Regions 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, Mimaropa, and Caraga affected by the typhoon.

Over 77,000 families or around 280,000 individuals are still in various evacuation centers.

Local government units of Mimaropa and Caraga have poured in more than PHP1.5 million worth of aid to their affected constituents.

DSWD field offices are also rendering disaster response operations 24/7.

“The Department continues its replenishment and repacking operations to ensure the availability of relief items that will be augmented to affected localities. This is part of the DSWD’s mandate as the lead in the Food and Non-Food Items Cluster of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council,” the agency said on Saturday.

DSWD Mimaropa likewise sent 82 modular tents to nine municipalities in Romblon — Alcantara, Calatrava, Ferrol, Looc, Odiongan, San Agustin, San Andres, Sta. Fe and Sta. Maria.

DSWD has stockpiles and standby funds amounting to more than PHP900 million, with PHP78 million of standby funds at the Central and field offices.

Over 400,000 family food packs are also prepositioned in strategic locations nationwide.

As of 5 p.m., the center of the eye of Typhoon Odette was located over the coastal waters of Pag-asa Island in Kalayaan, Palawan, where Signal No. 3 is still raised.

There are no other existing Tropical Cyclone Wind Signals as of posting time.