DSWD ships relief goods to Eastern Samar

By: Mar S. Arguelles - 11 years ago

Philippine soldiers pack relief supplies for victims of Typhoon Haiyan at Villamor Airbase, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013 in Manila, Philippines. Authorities said at least 9.7 million people in 41 provinces were affected by the typhoon, which was likely the deadliest natural disaster to beset this poor Southeast Asian nation. AP/Wong Maye-E

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines —The regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development shipped out on Tuesday 8,000 emergency food packs worth P2 million for families affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in Eastern Samar, a DSWD official said.

Arnel Garcia, DSWD regional director, said the initial shipment of the relief goods in three container trucks left at 8:30 a.m. for Matnog port in Sorsogon where they will catch a roll-on-roll-off ferry to the port of Allen in Northern Samar.

From there the goods will be carried by the trucks on an overland trip lasting six to eight hours to the towns of Guiuan and Taft in Eastern Samar for distribution to affected families, Garcia said. It was in Guiuan where Yolanda made landfall early last Friday morning.

Garcia said in a telephone interview that the food shipment will be turned over to the municipal social welfare offices of the two towns.

Each of the 8,000 family packs contains three kilos of rice, seven tins of assorted canned goods and 10 pieces of 3-in-1 coffee.

The DSWD office in Bicol has been tasked by Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman to lead relief operations in Eastern Visayas as the employees of the regional DSWD office there were themselves victims of the typhoon.

Samar Island is made up of three provinces – Samar (or Western Samar), with Catbalogan City as its capital; Eastern Samar, with Borongan City as its capital; and Northern Samar, with Catarman as its capital. Of the three, Northern Samar was the least affected.

DSWD’s Bicol office sought help from the regional Office of Civil Defense and the Albay provincial government in preparing millions of emergency food packs for distribution to affected families in Western and Eastern Samar.

The relief task force intends to produce millions of food packs for distribution to people in affected towns of Samar.

Meanwhile, a 45-member humanitarian team from Legazpi City and the Ako Bicol Party left for Tacloban City on Tuesday morning, Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal said. Aside from food packs, the team brought along equipment to help clearing operations in the city.