Firefighters monitor the swollen river traversing Barangays Mabayuan and Kalaklan villages in Olongapo City as rain continued to hammer Luzon on Sunday, July 25, 2021. (Photo from the Olongapo City Fire Station)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has started giving augmentation assistance to areas affected by the rainfall and flooding caused by the southwest monsoon, or habagat, and is now ready to respond to requests for aid.
Several of its field offices have already helped several local government units in distributing family food packs according to an update given on Monday, July 26, by the DSWD Disaster Response Management Bureau (DRMB) on July 26.
Its Calabarzon field office, in coordination with the Batangas Provincial Quick Response Team (QRT), facilitated on Sunday, July 25, the distribution of 387 family food packs in the towns of Calaca, Calatagan, and Nasugbu in Batangas.
The Mimaropa field office also sent 5,200 family food packs amounting to P3.6 million to the provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro.
The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) field office distributed 12 family food packs, four boxes of hygiene kits, four boxes of sleeping kits, and a family kit to displaced families in La Trinidad, Benguet.
The DSWD CAR also pre-positioned 2,000 family food packs for Abra province.
Meanwhile, the DSWD has received requests for aid from several LGUs.
The DSWD Central Luzon, for example, has requested 5,000 additional stockpiles for storage in its warehouse in Fort Ramon Magsaysay in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija.
“Concerned FOs [field offices] are also consistently coordinating with Local Social Welfare and Development Offices (LSWDOs) to ensure that the needs of displaced families and individuals inside and outside evacuation centers are met,” the DSWD said.
According to DSWD, there are currently 11,590 families — composed of 44,100 individuals — staying in 424 evacuation centers in the Ilocos Regions, Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and CAR, while some 12,621 families — composed of 55,854 persons — are temporarily staying with their relatives or friends.