The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has initially provided 1,000 modular and family tents, and is set to dispatch 13,500 family food packs to families in Batangas and Cavite affected by Taal Volcano’s unrest.
In a statement, the DSWD reported that its Central Office has delivered 200 family tents to Batangas Sports Complex, while 500 modular tents have been given to the DSWD IV-A (Calabarzon) warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez (GMA), Cavite on July 1.
Based on the latest report, the department said more than 1,282 persons or 317 families are currently staying in 11 evacuation centers in Batangas province.
During the situational briefing with the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) on Friday, July 2, DSWD Secretary Rolando Joselito D. Bautista assured the public that the resources of the affected local government units (LGUs) will be augmented in the form of food and non-food items.
Related story: https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/02/dswd-assures-enough-resources-funds-to-aid-lgus-affected-by-taal-volcanos-unrest/
The DSWD serves as the Food and Non-Food Item (FNFI) Cluster lead of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Citing the report of the Department’s Disaster Response Management Bureau (DRMB), the social welfare department said 300 family tents are being transported to Laurel, Batangas.
“The National Resource Operations Center, the main disaster hub of DSWD, is also preparing to dispatch 1,500 family food packs (FFPs) to Agoncillo, Batangas, 2,000 FFPs to Laurel Batangas, and 10,000 FFPs to Batangas Sports Complex,” it said.
The DSWD said it has stockpiles and standby funds amounting to more than P1.1 billion standby and stockpile funds that can be used for disaster operations. Of this, more than P169 million is the available Quick Response Fund (QRF), it said.
It noted that a total of 306,472 FFPs are available for distribution and are “strategically prepositioned around the country for augmentation to LGUs."
“Lastly, the Department is consistently monitoring the situation of affected local government to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of psychosocial and protective services to disaster-affected families,” the DSWD said.