As Typhoon ‘Lando’  continues to move  Northwest of Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said today that 494 evacuation centers serve as temporary shelter for 23,661 families or 106,771 persons in Regions I, II, III,  and CAR as of 20 October 2015, 2PM.

Of this number, 33 evacuation centers remain open in the provinces of Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan; 123 in Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino; 324 in Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga,Tarlac, Zambales; and 14 in Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Kalinga and Mountain Province.

To date, a total of 121,893 families or 560,754 persons are affected.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said that the Department is committed to serve the evacuees until the evacuation centers are closed down by the LGUs.

To date, a total of ₱8,459,895 worth of assistance has been provided where ₱5,993,028 came from  DSWD and ₱2,466,867 from LGUs of Regions I, II, III, V and CAR.

The DSWD-National Resource Operations Centers (NROC) has already released 51,596 family food packs which were received by DSWD-Field Offices I, II, III, NCR, and CAR to augment LGU resources. Another  5,652 packs  are in transit to the affected regions.

Repacking of family food packs continues at NROC with volunteers composed of military personnel, staff of the Bureau of Fire Protection, and beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

For today, some 17,440 family food packs have been produced by the volunteers, ready for delivery to affected LGUs.

DSWD disaster teams who have started to assess the extent of the typhoon reported that a total of 5,787 houses were damaged in Regions I, II, III and CAR, with 351 totally damaged  and 5,436 partially damaged. ###