Members of the Task Force Ground Zero participate in a workshop to identify strategies on how to better implement their tasks.
Members of the Task Force Ground Zero participate in a workshop to identify strategies on how to better implement their tasks.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as vice-chair of the Response Cluster of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC)  has deployed staff as part of the Task Force Ground Zero who went to Casiguran, Aurora last week.

The Task Force  will reinforce the disaster operations as well as the recovery and rehabilitation efforts of local government units (LGUs)  for families affected by Typhoon Lando in the province, one of the hardest-hit areas.

Aside from DSWD, the Task Force Ground Zero is composed of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd), Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and Bureau of Fire Protection-National Headquarters (BFP-NHQ) together with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), World Food Programme (WFP), and the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA).

The team arrived at Agricula, Brgy Marikit, Casiguran last Friday and immediately installed communication links including radio, Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) and satellite phones, and wireless internet access.

The team also deployed personnel in Dilasag town for relief operations.

The Task Force will remain in the province for 15 days.

As of October 26, a total of 658,634 families or 2,868,517 persons have been affected of which 18,317 families or 82,734 persons are inside 312 evacuation centers managed by LGUs  in Regions I, II, III, and CAR.

To date, a  total of ₱104,774,644.33 worth of assistance was provided from the combined resources of DSWD extending  ₱72,198,686, LGUs pouring in ₱32,269,858.33, and NGOs giving ₱306,100. ###