Photo courtesy of DSWD-7/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Areas hit by different earthquakes within January would receive aid, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Friday.
DSWD in a statement said that they are coordinating with the provinces of Leyte, Camarines Sur, and Davao Occidental — all of which were separately hit by earthquakes.
“[DSWD], through its Field Offices (FOs), continues to coordinate with concerned local government units (LGUs) in the provinces of Leyte, Camarines Norte, and Davao Occidental for possible request for technical assistance and resource augmentation after various earthquakes hit parts of these areas this week,” the department said.
The municipality of Leyte, Leyte was hit by a shallow Magnitude 5.1 earthquake last January 15, which was felt as an Intensity V in the said town and Capoocan and Kananga. On January 17, another shallow Magnitude 4.8 quake hit Vinzons town in Camarines Norte, which was felt in several areas in Bicol Region and Quezon province.
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Then last January 18, a Magnitude 7.0 earthquake was recorded offshore, around 335 kilometers of Sarangani’s Balut Island. While the movement was far from land, Intensity II was recorded in several towns over southern Mindanao.
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According to the department, relief assistance worth over P417,000 has been given by their field office in Eastern Visayas, helping around 364 families.
“In Region VIII, about 364 families were affected by the Magnitude 5.3 earthquake that hit Leyte on January 15. The DSWD FO VIII has already augmented relief assistance worth P417,727.82 to assist the concerned LGU in their disaster response operations. The FO also reported that 364 houses were damaged in the quake-hit province,” it added.
DSWD also assured the public that there are enough standby funds for disaster response, amounting to P1.2 billion — of which P102 million is at the Central Office.
“As of January 19, the Department maintains more than P1.2 billion worth of standby and stockpile funds for its disaster response operations. Of the amount, more than P102 million is the available standby funds in the Central Office and DSWD FOs, while there are 498,917 family food packs worth more than P312 million,” the department said.
“Other food and non-food items costing over P857 million are also prepositioned strategically in various locations around the country,” it added. “The Department will also continue to hold repacking operations and prepositioning of goods to ensure the sufficiency of relief items in disaster-prone areas.”