DSWD sends food to stranded passengers

The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7) delivered hot meals yesterday to the 132 passengers stranded at Pier 3 in Cebu City in response to the request from a port official.

Eppie Partosa, DSWD-7 Crisis Intervention Unit head, said Cebu Port manager Rene Antonio Bacon called her up yesterday afternoon to request for food augmentation for the stranded passengers.

The agency also deployed social workers to assess the situation of the passengers at Pier 3 after vessels cancelled their trips to Bohol, Leyte, Ormoc, Camotes island, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Masbate and Nasipit on orders of the Coast Guard.

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, DSWD had monitored seven evacuation centers in the Central Visayas, of which four are in Negros Oriental serving 48 families from the towns of Vallehermoso, Sibulan and Tanjay City, and three in Bohol holding 293 families from the towns of Buenavista, Calape and Sierra Bullones.

Meanwhile, the department has pre-positioned its relief goods for immediate distribution in the Central Visayas provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and Negros Oriental.

With the 24-hour preparations and monitoring efforts, the DSWD as well as members of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council are aiming for a zero casualty and an immediate response during calamities.

The department has mobilized all members of its Quick Response Team to monitor round the clock the effects of the super typhoon and to ensure that relief assistance in the affected areas are delivered on time.