Manay: Following the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that jolted the town of Manay in Davao Oriental on Friday morning, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) immediately extended aid worth PHP615,000. The initial assistance consisted of 50 family food packs (FFPs) to be cooked into hot meals through the DSWD mobile kitchen, and 606 boxes of Ready-to-Eat Food (RTEF) for distribution to internally displaced persons.
According to Philippines News Agency, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian instructed the Davao Region Field Office (FO-11) to prepare personnel and logistic support for deployment to the affected areas. Assistant Secretary Juan Carlo Marquez stated that the FO-11 mobile command center was also dispatched to Davao Oriental to facilitate relief efforts.
The Disaster Response Operations Management, Information and Communication released a 4 p.m. situational report indicating that 15,868 families or 78,430 individuals have been affected by the earthquake. Of these, 1,583 families or 7,915 individuals are currently residing in five evacuation centers established by the local government unit (LGU).
'The DSWD FO-11 is closely coordinating with the LGU to gather more information and conduct an initial assessment of the situation. We expect the number of affected families to increase as we progress in the assessment of the situation,' Marquez said. He assured residents that aside from the initial assistance provided, the agency is prepared to meet their needs.
As of Friday, the DSWD FO-11 has a stockpile of 103,614 FFPs, 5,000 RTEF boxes strategically prepositioned in the region. Additionally, non-food items available include 4,640 family kits, 124 hygiene kits, 5,893 kitchen kits, 7,109 sleeping kits, 504 family tents, 11,108 modular tents, 291 laminated sacks, and 350 tarpaulin rolls.
