TACLOBAN CITY: The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has prepositioned 39,082 family food packs (FFPs) in strategic areas of Eastern Visayas primarily for the impacts of rainy days.
The stock of food supplies worth PHP25.35 million will ensure faster delivery of relief goods in case of severe flooding and other disasters, lawyer Jonalyndie Chua, DSWD 8 (Eastern Visayas) information officer, said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Of the total, 14,630 FFPs are stored in Allen and 1,000 in Biri towns in Northern Samar; 220 in Jipapad, 210 in Taft, and 1,000 in Guiuan in Eastern Samar; 11,222 at the DSWD regional resource operations center in Palo, Leyte; and 4,800 in Sogod, Southern Leyte.
The DSWD also prepositioned 600 FFPs in Almagro, Samar; 1,400 FFPs in Santo Niño, Samar; 500 FFPs each in the towns of Maripipi and Kawayan in Biliran; and 3,000 in Naval, also in Biliran province.
“The current volume is the capacity of our warehouses at any given time. We have been prepared for the shear line that has affected some areas of the region in the past days,” Chua added.
For the recent flooding due to the shear line, the DSWD has released FFPs to families in Jipapad, Oras, and Guiuan in Eastern Samar.
Each FFP contains six kilos of rice, four cans of corned beef, four cans of tuna flakes, two cans of sardines, five sachets of coffee and five sachets of cereal drinks.
The DSWD has also prepared 11,237 non-food items worth PHP20.64 million.
Under the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, the local governments are the first responders and the DSWD is tasked to augment the response efforts after disasters
Source: Philippines News Agency
