Quezon city: The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided PHP7.1 million in humanitarian aid to families affected by last Friday's fire at NIA Road in Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City that left some 4,000 families homeless.
According to Philippines News Agency, Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao of the DSWD's Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) announced that personnel from its Field Office National Capital Region (FO-NCR) Disaster Response Management Division (DRMD) immediately delivered 1,000 sleeping kits and 1,000 ready-to-eat food (RTEF) packs to affected families on Saturday following a request from the Quezon City local government unit.
In a subsequent effort, the DSWD provided an additional 1,000 family food packs (FFPs), 954 RTEFs, 900 kitchen kits, and 1,000 hygiene kits to various evacuation centers on Sunday. The DSWD FO-NCR also deployed its mobile kitchen to serve free hot meals to fire-affected residents at designated evacuation centers.
According to the DRMD, as of 11 a.m. Monday, approximately 2,775 families or 8,289 individuals are currently residing in evacuation centers. The DRMD reported that 488 houses were completely destroyed in the incident.
The agency is actively gathering additional data and monitoring affected residents to ensure the prompt and adequate delivery of interventions. The FO-NCR assured the public of having sufficient standby funds and relief stockpiles to support all affected families and respond to future emergencies.
Assistant Secretary Dumlao stated, "As of March 6, we have PHP3 million in standby funds at FO-NCR. For the FFPs, it has 67,000 packs still available, 11,900 ready-to-eat food boxes, and 14,870 food and non-food items."
To enhance disaster response, the FO-NCR's DRMD convened a coordination meeting with the Quezon City SSDD and the National Irrigation Administration. The meeting focused on assessing the situation of displaced families and identifying strategies to expedite their recovery.
The DSWD assured continued monitoring of the situation and provision of necessary assistance to all internally displaced persons affected by the incident. Dumlao emphasized, "This is in line with the mandate of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and under the directive of DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian to ensure that all disaster-affected families receive timely, adequate, and appropriate interventions."
