QUEZON CITY -- Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Erwin T. Tulfo assured President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that the Department has enough prepositioned food, non-food, and other relief items at the local level even prior to the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that hit some parts of Luzon on Wednesday, July 27.
During the situational briefing in Bangued, Abra on Thursday, July 28, Secretary Tulfo reported to the President that the Agency is ready and can quickly respond in times of crisis situations such as earthquakes.
“We are [prepared], Sir. Basing on your instruction during the SONA, morning pa lamang, we have already deployed all these food packs, yung prepositioning. Hindi lamang po food packs, pati po non-food items have been prepositioned already, Sir sa mga provinces. Kagaya po dito sa Abra, Sir, nagpreposition na po kami ” (We are [prepared], Sir. Basing on your instruction during the SONA, we already deployed food packs in the morning, on the same day as your SONA. Aside from food packs, we also prepositioned non-food items in the provinces, Sir. Like here in Abra, Sir, we have also prepositioned), Secretary Tulfo reported to President Marcos.
CAR update
In the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), there are 1,000 Family Food Packs (FFPs) prepositioned in Apayao; 5,816 in Abra; 1,294 in Kalinga; 1,231 in Mt. Province; 1,060 in Ifugao; and 11,328 FFPs are available in the regional warehouse. All these are ready to be distributed to the affected families.
As of today, some 19,133 families or 77,614 individuals from the 228 barangays in CAR have been affected by the earthquake. Of these, 1,198 families are inside the evacuation centers.
The DSWD Field Office- CAR has started distributing cash assistance to the affected families and burial assistance to the bereaved families.
Region I update
Meanwhile, in Region I, a total of 11,765 families or 41,680 individuals from the 117 barangays in the region have been affected by the recent tremor. Some 682 families or 2,510 individuals are currently staying at the evacuation centers.
As of press time, there are 9,147 FFPs prepositioned in the regional warehouses that can be extended to local government units as augmentation support. These include 1,404 FFPs in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur; 895 in Rosales, Pangasinan; 2,000 in Alaminos City, Pangasinan; 1,978 in the Police Provincial Office Lingayen, Pangasinan; and another 1,978 in Santa Barbara, Pangasinan.
The DSWD Field Office 1 is closely coordinating with the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (DOST-PHIVOLCS), Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council 1 (RDRRMC1), and Provincial Action Teams to continuously monitor and gather updates regarding the affected population and damages brought by the quake.
DSWD-Field Offices in the affected regions continue to be on full alert status to assist the LGUs in their disaster operations and to identify other services that will help their constituents. (DSWD)
