The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided more than Php70 million worth of humanitarian aid to families severely affected by the onslaught of Super Typhoon Carina and the enhanced southwest monsoon or “Habagat”, an official of the agency’s Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) said on Friday (July 26.)

“The DSWD sent family food packs, family kits, hygiene kits, laminated sacks, and kitchen kits, among other relief items to our affected kababayans. Secretary Rex Gatchalian directed the DRMG and all our Field Offices (FOs) to intensify and double our efforts to provide extra love and care in this trying time,” DSWD Asst. Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Irene Dumlao, who is also the agency spokesperson, said.

CALABARZON Situation Briefing

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr attended on Friday a series of situation briefings in the provinces of Quezon and Rizal where the chief executive was assured by Secretary Gatchalian that the DSWD has responded to the requests for augmentation of relief supplies by the affected local  government units in the CALABARZON region.

“Mr. President, the total request deployed for the entire 4-A (CALABARZON) is 42,785 (boxes of FFPs). Lahat po yan fully-supplied. We probably have around 4,000 to 10,000 pending requests which we should be able to deploy within the next 24 hours,” Secretary Gatchalian reported to President Marcos during a briefing in Mauban, Quezon, which was the first stop of the Presidential team.

In Rizal province, Secretary Gatchalian accompanied the President in the inspection of the flood-affected municipality of San Mateo.

President Marcos met with the evacuees currently staying at the San Mateo Elementary School and personally heard from them their current status and the needed government intervention for those severely impacted by the floods.

The DSWD chief, together with Field Office 4-A (CALABARZON) Regional Director Barry Chua and his Asst. Regional Director for Operations (ARDO) Mylah Gatchalian, led the distribution of family food packs to the Carina-affected communities.

CALABARZON, which stands for the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon, is one of the regions with the most number of affected families currently staying in evacuation centers.

Based on the July 26, 6 AM report by the DSWD’s Disaster Response Operations Management, Information and Communication (DROMIC), those affected by Typhoon Carina and the enhanced ‘Habagat” now total 463,698 families or 1,545,711 persons in the 1,946 barangays 10 regions including  the National Capital Region (NCR), Regions 1 (Ilocos Region), 2 (Cagayan Valley), 3 (Central Luzon), CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, 5 (Bicol Region), 6 (Western Visayas), 7 (Central Visayas), 10 (Northern Mindanao), and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR)

Meanwhile, a total of 50,960 families or 198,312 persons are currently taking temporary shelter in 1,075 evacuation centers in the different affected regions.

AICS Program

According to Asst. Secretary Dumlao, the Department also distributed cash assistance under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program.

“Apart from the food and non-food items, some 20,000 individuals from CALABARZON and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) received financial assistance, based on the assessment of our social workers,” the DSWD spokesperson said.

DSWD social workers continue to coordinate with Carina-affected LGUs to determine other needed interventions during the recovery phase, according to Asst. Secretary Dumlao.#