New system helps DSWD speed up packing of relief items

Should emergency situations arise, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) can quickly provide around 50,000 family food packs a day—enough to feed 250,000 people for three days—which is more than double its production for past disasters.

A new packaging system was devised by the government and a United Nations agency on Wednesday to rebuild food security in the event of  disasters.

New rice bagging machines, a conveyor system and a pallet racking system have been installed at the National Resource Operations Center in Pasay City, ready to be flown out to pack rations and hand them immediately to survivors.

Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said a major change in the revamped and modernized system was the way goods are packed.

“The six kilos of rice, eight canned goods, six sachets of instant coffee or powdered cereal drink and water purifying tablets are now placed in a cardboard box, not in a plastic bag as previously done because these easily broke when transported,” Soliman said.

She said the DSWD  learned its lesson, especially after Supertyphoon “Yolanda” hit the country and the agency was forced to produce a big number of food packs, more than it could manually produce.

“We needed about 5,000 volunteers with the manual unpacking, sorting and repacking of goods,” Soliman said, noting that with the new system, less than a hundred volunteers could arrange and do quality checks on an estimated 24,000 food boxes per hour.

Explaining the process of the mechanized production system, Soliman said it starts with automated rice bagging which uses machines that put six kilos of rice in heat-sealed plastic bags.

There are also case erectors capable of assembling cardboard boxes which are then taken to the packaging conveyor lines where volunteers put in canned goods, coffee sachets and water purifying tablets.

“These boxes already contain the basic needs,” the social welfare secretary said, noting that the boxes also indicate the expiration date of the goods.

With this system, the agency can come to the rescue  in less than 24 hours.

“If there is a need for manual repacking, we still have warehouses and people for that,” said Soliman.

The more efficient and improved system of repacking was funded by the Philippine government, World Food Programme and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, Soliman said.

The DSWD said this will not be the only mechanized production system in the country as the agency is planning to establish systems in Cebu, General Santos and Clark, Pampanga.

“This will help in the repacking in our regional offices,” said Soliman.

Soliman said other projects to improve disaster preparedness included establishing a network of response facilities in other parts of the country and running a training program focused on emergency logistics.

DSWD Assistant Secretary Rodolfo Santos said the possibilities with this new system were “limitless” as volunteers could also  pack hygiene kits with it.

Said Praveen Agrawal, Philippines country director of the World Food Programme, which set up the system with the government: “This will make a huge difference in the aftermath of a disaster as we are now able to significantly expand the number of people to whom we can provide immediate life-saving food.”–With a Reuters report