DSWD installs more modular tents for quake-hit families in Bogo City
Cash aid readied for victims
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has installed 95 additional modular tents at the SM Cares Village in Bogo City, Cebu to serve as temporary shelters for families affected by the Sept. 30 earthquake.
DSWD-Disaster Response Management Group Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said the agency continues to provide tents in response to the urgent need for temporary housing among severely affected residents.
“Together with partner national agencies and the local government units (LGUs), we are working together to put up modular tents and build a temporary tent city in line with the directive of our President [Marcos],” Dumlao said on Saturday, Oct. 4.
She said that aside from ensuring food and other basic needs for internally displaced persons (IDPs), DSWD has also been distributing modular tents to give families shelter while aftershocks persist.
“We also take into consideration that with earthquakes, we recognize the threat of structural damages, as well as the occurrence of aftershocks. The IDPs are afraid of going back to their homes, so putting up modular tents is a great help to them,” Dumlao said.
According to DSWD, the modular tents serve as temporary homes that protect affected families from heat exposure and rain, while also providing privacy as they begin to recover and regain normalcy in their daily lives.
Aside from Bogo City, DSWD said it is also distributing modular tents to IDPs in other quake-hit areas in Cebu province.
Dumlao said the agency is also gathering necessary reports from partner LGUs to prepare the financial assistance under its Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT).
“We are now consolidating data from our partner LGUs, which will serve as our reference for computing and proceeding with the distribution of financial assistance,” she said.
ECT is DSWD’s way of helping disaster-hit families recover faster by giving them unconditional cash aid.
While the financial aid is still being prepared, DSWD has already extended burial and cash assistance to the bereaved families of those who perished.