The Department of Social Welfare and Development assured Friday, July 2, that it has enough resources to provide assistance to the local government units (LGUs) affected by Taal Volcano’s unrest.
DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito D. Bautista said the provincial government of Batangas and other affected local governments will be assisted.
“Magtulong-tulong tayo, mas marami tayong magagawa to minimize the effects and losses (Let’s work together, we can do more to minimize the effects and losses),” Bautista said during the situational briefing on Friday.
Members of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Office of Civil Defense and DSWD attended the briefing.
In a Facebook, the DSWD assured the public that “there is enough standby goods and funds to provide additional assistance to local governments affected by the increase in alert level of Taal Volcano.”
As of July 1, 2,787 family food packs (FFPs) are available for distribution, it said.
“Currently, 3,600 sacks of rice are also being transferred to the DSWD warehouse for the repacking of approximately 30,000 family food packs,” it said.
The DSWD said it has standby funds amounting to P4. 84 million funds, which can be used to buy food and non-food items.
It added that P11.03 million worth of non-food items such as blankets and hygiene kits are available.
“Like all disaster response operations, DSWD extends assistance to affected families based on a report and request submitted by each local government,” it said.
In a Facebook post, the DSWD Region IV-A reported on Friday that a total of 317 families or 1,282 individuals from the municipalities of Agoncillo, Laurel and Balete are currently staying in 11 evacuation centers.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) placed Thursday, July 1, Taal Volcano under Alert Level 3, which “means there is ongoing magmatic intrusion at the Main Crater that may further drive succeeding eruptions.”
Alert 3 or magmatic unrest was raised over Taal Volcano at 3:37 p.m., July 1, after a short-lived phreatomagmatic eruption at the main crater occurred at 3:16 p.m.