Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said that the Department still has enough resources to sustain food distribution in local government units (LGUs) affected by Typhoon Lando until year-end.

Sec. Soliman disclosed that DSWD still has P500 million Quick Response Fund that can be used to support disaster operations for ‘Lando’ and for other calamities that may occur until the end of the year.

Likewise, a total of P1 billion is readily available under the Calamity Fund of the President.

“Food is still the priority of the affected families, along with non-food items like clothes and blankets,” Sec. Soliman added.

In Casiguran where she went the other day (Wednesday), a day ahead of the Presidential Visit on Thursday, Sec. Soliman said that the food packs that were delivered to the province were distributed and received by the barangay captains in the municipal hall. The barangay captains distributed the food packs to their respective constituent who were affected by ‘Lando.”

As of 11 am today, ‘Lando’ has affected a total of 361,924 families or 1,656,241 persons.

Of this number, 24,179 families or 111,236 persons are inside 408 evacuation centers managed by LGUs and 96,527 families or 434,358 persons are outside evacuation centers staying in their relatives’ or friends’ houses.

A total of ₱28,275,278.98 worth of assistance has been provided from the combined resources of DSWD which extended  ₱19,483,132.48, LGUs with ₱8,754,346.50, and NGOs with P37,800.

Sec. Soliman also said that the rapid assessment teams who were deployed on Thursday to Aurora and Nueva Ecija would complete their assessment by Monday.

The result of the assessment will then be processed and will become the basis for the provision of appropriate programs and services to enable the affected families regain normalcy. ###