DSWD 7: More Relief Goods, More Volunteers

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office – 7 has continued repacking family food packs to be delivered to Ruby-stricken areas at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) and Petroni Warehouse, both in Mandaue City.

Another warehouse is also being set up at the old Sacred Heart School along Gen. Maxilom, Cebu City that is expected to generate 20,000 family food packs daily.

DSWD Field Office VII is expected to produce at least 50,000 family food packs daily. The repacking will continue in the next two weeks that is why the agency is in need of more volunteers.

Ten thousand (10,000) food packs will be delivered anytime by the Philippine Air Force via C130 and Philippine Navy to Borongan, Eastern Samar to augment the resources of the local government units (LGU) for survivors of Typhoon Ruby. Cebu has been identified to be the central coordination point and a relief hub for disaster operations in Visayas and Mindanao.

As of this report, DSWD – 7 has packed more than 19,972 food packs. Each pack costs P407.00 and consists 6 kilos of rice, 4 sardines, 4 canned meat, 8 noodles and 8 coffee.

At least three Navy ships will be utilized to deliver the family food packs in affected island towns like Camotes and Bantayan. It will also be used to deliver in Eastern Visayas.

Meanwhile, DSWD – 7 has already given 17,632 family food packs to the towns of Sogod, Daanbantayan, Tabogon, Tabuelan, Liloan, Borbon, Samboan, Catmon, Mandaue. Ready for delivery are the goods for San Francisco, Sta. Fe, Poro, and Pilar. Madredijos, Talisay City, Cordova, Medellin, San Remegio and Bantayan also requested DSWD for family packs.

Call for more volunteers

With more relief deliveries, the DSWD -7 is calling on individuals or groups who want to volunteer and join in the preparation of food packs at the Cebu Hub. Interested volunteers may contact Jo Belotindos at 09391748342.

Evacuation centers

To date, there are 396 evacuation centers (EC) in the entire Central Visayas region that is composed of 31 Municipalities. There are 30,989 families with 133,962 individuals who were registered in these evacuation centers. There are 851 families which are home-based or a total of 3,950 individuals. Around 880 families or 3,950 individuals took shelter from their neighbors or relatives.

DSWD-7 assistant regional director Shalaine Marie Lucero for her part urged local government units (LGUs) to ensure children and women friendly spaces inside the evacuation centers.

She added that all DSWD-7 field staff were utilized to help LGUs in their relief operations.

“We are always willing to provide augmentation to the LGUs,” she said.

DSWD-7 regional director Mercedita Jabagat also said repacking of goods is done 24 hours in the next two weeks.

Moreover, members of the DSWD Quick Response Teams (QRT) continue to coordinate with local disaster councils to monitor and assess the extent of the disaster, and to identify other services needed by the affected families.

One-stop shop stationed in Mactan Airbase has also been reactivated on Monday (December 8, 2014).