Almost 15,000 families who took temporary shelter in more than 700 evacuation centers in four regions affected by Typhoon “Bising” have already returned home, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Saturday, April 24.
The DSWD’s Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC) reported that as of 6 p.m., April 24, 14,951 families or 58,431 persons in the 737 evacuation centers “have now returned home.”
The report was issued after the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said that Bising has weakened into a tropical storm on Saturday, April 24.
The DROMIC noted that the number of affected families had reached 98,546 or 401,867 persons in 1,134 barangays from affected regions-- Cagayan Valley, Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Caraga.
The report also showed that 24,519 families or 93,827 persons chose to stay with their relatives and/or friends.
Meanwhile, the DSWD reported that the number of damaged houses increased to 1,793 damaged houses, 138 of which were totally damaged and 1,655 were partially damaged.
The DSWD and the local government units (LGUs) have so far provided relief assistance amounting to more than P3.32 million to the families affected by Bising.