The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to provide relief assistance to families affected by Typhoon Nina, which exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) before midnight yesterday.

The Department maintains close coordination with concerned field offices (FOs) to ensure continuous assistance for affected Filipinos. Meanwhile, volunteers continue to pack family food packs (FFPs) at the DSWD National Resource Operations Center (NROC) in Pasay City.

Based on the 4AM report of the DSWD Disaster Response Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC), the number of families affected by ‘Nina’ has increased to 132,908 or 602,770 individuals in 785 barangays in Regions CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, V, and VIII.

The typhoon displaced a total of 77,925 families or 340,835 individuals. Some 42,531 families or 179,269 persons are still staying in 507 evacuation centers.

The number of damaged houses also rose to 30,897 in Region V in the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, and Sorsogon; of which, 21,255 are partially damaged, while 9,672 are totally damaged.

As of 4AM today, there are still 16,155 passengers stranded in 20 seaports: two in CALABARZON, three in MIMAROPA, 11 in Region V, and four in Region VIII.

To date, the DSWD has provided a total of P31,018,264 worth of relief assistance to the families affected by the typhoon. These include FFPs and food and non-food items (FNFIs), such as malong, mosquito nets, blankets, and hygiene kits.

DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo assures the public of continuous provision of relief supplies to the victims of ‘Nina’, as the number of evacuees is still high.

“The DSWD continues to monitor the condition of families affected by ‘Nina’ who are still staying in evacuation centers. We have provided additional augmentation assistance to the evacuees though the local government units (LGUs). As what President Rodrigo Duterte said, “the government will help our kababayans to recover their bearings,” she said.

The welfare chief also appealed anew to LGU officials to help the DSWD distribute its FFPs and other relief materials to all affected residents. She said that the DSWD continues to receive reports from netizens that they or their relatives affected by Nina have not received badly needed aid.

“We want to inform the public that the DSWD has prepositioned goods and funds with the LGUs. It is the LGUs that have the first and primary duty to distribute these goods among all affected residents in their communities. The DSWD Field Offices and the Central Office is always ready to provide augmentation support, and we hope that our partner LGUs can immediately inform us as soon as their supplies run low. Again, to our kababayans, please do not hesitate to go to your respective LGUs to demand relief assistance,” she said. #