Families living in communities along the coastal areas in the municipalities of Tingloy, Mabini, Lemery, Taal, and San Luis in Batangas Province who took pre-emptive evacuation for fear of Tsunami as a result of the earthquake on April 8 have already returned to their respective houses.

Although the situation in the province is starting to normalize, the DSWD-Field Office (FO) CALABARZON is still closely coordinating with concerned Local Government U nits (LGUs)  to assess the status of affected families and determine their needs.

The DSWD FO CALABARZON, together with the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) CALABARZON and Provincial/Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils (P/MDRRMCs) , led in intensifying information dissemination to the public on earthquake and fire safety.

Likewise, the DSWD FO CALABARZON has also organized a psychosocial processing team, which will be deployed from April 18 to 21 to conduct critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) sessions to affected families.  The CISD is a process that prevents or limits the development of post-traumatic stress in people exposed to critical incidents. Professionally conducted debriefings help survivors cope with, and recover from the after effects of the calamity.

To date, DSWD has extended a total of ₱5,295,272 worth of assistance to affected families in Batangas Province.

Relief ops in Lanao del Sur

Meanwhile, DSWD has provided a total of ₱252,394.40 worth of assistance to families affected by the 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Wao, Lanao del Sur.

As of April 16, a total of 658 families or 2,876 persons in 11 barangays in Wao have been affected. DSWD-Field Office XII and the provincial LGU continue to serve these families who chose to stay in their respective houses.  ###