The social welfare department on Saturday called for volunteers in Metro Manila to pack relief goods for thousands of families who would be spending Christmas in emergency shelters due to the Marawi City siege and Tropical Storms “Urduja” and “Vinta.”
As many as 500 people were needed daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the National Resource Operations Center in Pasay City, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
At least 705 families, or 2,891 individuals, were in 31 evacuation centers in the Bicol region, Eastern Visayas, and Mimaropa region, after Urduja (international name: Kai-Tak) blew across the Visayas and destroyed more than 10,000 houses, according to DSWD data.
45 dead, 46 missing
Urduja left about 45 people dead and 46 missing.
The DSWD reported 7,859 families, or 32,858 individuals, displaced by Vinta (international name: Tembin) remained in 151 evacuations centers, mostly in the Surigao area. The DSWD expects the number to rise as evacuation continued.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Saturday said Urduja caused at least P1.4 billion in damage. Damage to infrastructure, which included roads and bridges, amounted to about P869.7 million and losses to agriculture were worth P581.5 million in the affected areas, it said.
About P65.167 million worth of assistance from the DSWD and local government units has been provided to families
affected by Urduja.
Calamity funds
The DSWD said it had a stockpile of food packs nationwide amounting to about P284.346 million and its available food and nonfood items (FNIs) were worth P409.497 million. It also had P209.518 million in standby funds, of which P161.688 million was available as a quick response fund.
Caibiran, one of the towns of Biliran, the province worst-hit by Urduja, made an urgent appeal for help on Saturday.
Martin Sulla of the municipal disaster risk reduction and management office said the relief goods they had received from the provincial government and nongovernment organizations were not enough.
About 16 people were killed in landslides in Caibiran’s Barangay Cabibihan. They were buried under tons of mud and boulders that cascaded from the mountains due to Urduja’s incessant rains, he said.
Call for volunteers
Sulla said many landslides had isolated Caibiran from the provincial capital and transportation cost had skyrocketed.
Volunteers may coordinate schedules beforehand with Sophia Mendiola at 553-9864 and at mobile number 0930-7669595.—JAYMEE T. GAMIL, JEANNETTE ANDRADE AND JOEY A. GABIETA