Photo 1: Members of the Municipal Action Team of the DSWD Field Office (FO) in Region II delivered family food packs for distribution to families staying at an evacuation center in the town of Cabarroguis, Quirino. Photo 2: DSWD Secretary Virginia N. Orogo presides over the meeting of the Response Cluster of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) at the NDRRMC headquarters in Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City earlier today. Together with her is DSWD Undersecretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Hope Hervilla. Before the meeting, the Secretary also joined a press briefing with other Cabinet members also held at NDRRMC.
Photo 1: Members of the Municipal Action Team of the DSWD Field Office (FO) in Region II delivered family food packs for distribution to families staying at an evacuation center in the town of Cabarroguis, Quirino.
Photo 2: DSWD Secretary Virginia N. Orogo presides over the meeting of the Response Cluster of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) at the NDRRMC headquarters in Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City earlier today. Together with her is DSWD Undersecretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Hope Hervilla. Before the meeting, the Secretary also joined a press briefing with other Cabinet members also held at NDRRMC.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), together with its Field Offices (FOs), has started to provide relief assistance to families and individuals who have been affected by the onslaught of Typhoon Ompong.

Last night, DSWD Field Office in Region I distributed family food packs (FFPs) to the residents of Barangays Puro and Alangan in the Municipality of Magsingal, Ilocos Sur who are currently staying at the People’s Coliseum, Sto. Domingo.

The FO also distributed FFPs to the residents from the islands of Puro and Villamor in the town of Caoayan who are taking temporarily shelter at Caoayan Central School. The town of Caoayan has the largest number of coastal barangays in Ilocos Sur.

DSWD FO I is also currently processing the request of the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte for 2,000 family food packs, 500 family kits, 500 hygiene kits, and 500 sleeping kits to be distributed to the affected residents in the province.

Meanwhile, DSWD Field Office in Region II has also started to distribute relief assistance to families staying in various evacuation centers in the Cagayan Valley.  The FO delivered today FFPs to evacuees in the Municipality of Cabarroguis, Quirino and distributed hygiene kits to the residents of the town of Lasam in Cagayan.

The DSWD Field Office has earlier prepositioned 21,700 food packs in the Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, and Nueva Vizcaya, and delivered 432 sacks of rice in the province of Batanes to help the local government units (LGUs) respond to the needs of their constituents.

The Department’s Field Office in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), on the other hand, continues to work closely with provincial governments and LGUs in the region for the distribution of relief assistance to the evacuees and in the management of evacuation camps.

As of yesterday, DSWD FO CAR has delivered a total of 21,022 family food packs, 590 sleeping kits, and 175 hygiene kits to the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province.

In Metro Manila, DSWD Field Office NCR has sent family food packs to evacuees from Barangay Bagong Silangan, in Quezon City. Some 131 families are currently staying at the Barangay covered court due to the typhoon.

In Central Luzon, DSWD Field Office in Region III is on red alert as it continues to monitor the situation of the provinces in the regions.

Number of affected families

“As of 8AM report, ‘Ompong’ has affected a total of 31,631 families or 125,751 individuals in 594 barangays in Regions I, II, III, Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) at National Capital Region (NCR),” DSWD Secretary Virginia Orogo said during a press briefing together with other Cabinet members held this morning at National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) headquarters in Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

“There are currently 724 open evacuation centers (ECs) in the affected regions, where a total of 5,190 families or 13,413 persons are currently staying. The bulk of the evacuation centers are located in Regions II and CAR with 287 and 228 ECs, respectively,” the Secretary reported.

Sec. Orogo said that the DSWD and its field offices have been actively monitoring the condition of the evacuees, conducting registration, profiling, and assessment of the affected families to ensure the provision of assistance to them.

“While ‘Ompong’ has slowed down and continued to weaken according to our weather reports, its threat is not yet over. So, let us not be complacent. I urge our kababayans to continue to be alert and on guard of the possible effects of the typhoon,” Sec. Orogo said.

“We have prepositioned goods in our field offices (FOs) in the affected regions. Our FOs have also delivered food packs to LGUs affected by ‘Ompong’ as augmentation support. We also continue to provide technical support to our LGUs in terms of camp management and coordination. The DSWD’s Quick Response Teams will continue to be on standby to monitor the situation on the ground 24/7,” she added. ###