Disaster teams from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and concerned local government units (LGUs) have intensified their response efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Rosita.

In Region II, aside from relief distribution for typhoon-affected families in Allacapan and Piat, Cagayan, and in Villa Verde, Nueva Vizcaya,  the DSWD-Field Office II Municipal Action Teams  (MAT) also set up a community kitchen to provide hot meals  to evacuees in Echague, Cagayan.

In the Ilocos Region, staff of the DSWD-Field Office I are ready for deployment to affected LGUs that will request for personnel support. Volunteers have also flocked to the regional office in San Fernando, La Union to help in the repacking of family food packs (FFPs).

In the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the DSWD-Field Office CAR have already delivered FFPs and non-food items in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao, and Itogon and Tuba, Benguet. The FO is set to augment relief goods in Sablan, Tublay, Baguio City and La Trinidad, Benguet, and Kalinga.

Moreover, the FO-CAR is also monitoring the situation in Mt. Province due to the recent landslide incident.

Meanwhile, in Region VIII, all Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDOs), Social Welfare and Development Teams (SWADT), Quick Response Teams (QRT) and members of the Disaster Response Management Division (DRMD) of DSWD FO-VIII are monitoring the families affected by the storm surge and responding to the needs of displaced families.

“The Department is actively distributing relief assistance to the typhoon-affected families. We are working with LGUs, other national government agencies, and local and international humanitarian agencies  in delivering aid to them,” stated DSWD Secretary Rolando D. Bautista.

Under the new secretary’s directives, the DSWD-National Resource Operations Center (NROC) sent additional 31,200 family food packs (FFPs) worth P11,232,000 to DSWD-Field Offices CAR, II and III, and non-food items in the form of sleeping kits, family kits, and hygiene kits worth P3,559,500 to Field Offices III and CAR.

All concerned field offices are still on alert  in assisting evacuees, processing of augmentation requests, and consolidating  reports.

To date, a total of 780 evacuation centers set up by LGUs are still open providing temporary shelter to 15,193 families or 53,965 individuals in Regions I, II, III, VIII, and CAR. ###