The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Field Office (FO) in Bicol Region has started providing assistance to individuals and families affected by Tropical Storm Kristine on Tuesday (October 22).
“Following the issuance of a forced evacuation order in the province of Albay, members of the DSWD’s Municipal Action Team in Region 5 were immediately deployed to assist in setting up modular tents and profiling of displaced families in evacuation centers located in the municipality of Jovellar,” DSWD Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Asst. Secretary Irene Dumlao said on Tuesday.
Aside from providing assistance in evacuation centers, DSWD personnel were also present to distribute hot meals to stranded individuals in various ports in Bicol Region.
In Tabaco Port, Albay, some 645 stranded passengers received hot breakfast meals worth over Php63,000, through the help of the Provincial Government of Catanduanes.
Meanwhile, more than 700 stranded individuals in Matnog Port in Sorsogon province were given breakfast packs amounting to Php30,000, through the assistance of the Local Government Unit of Matnog.
The DSWD FO-5 also distributed packed hot meals worth Php17,406.60 to some 628 passengers stranded in Pio Duran Port inbAlbay province, according to Asst. Secretary Dumlao, who is also the DSWD spokesperson.
In Eastern Visayas Region, the DSWD Field Office-8 has activated its Quick Response Teams (QRT) to monitor the possible effects of Kristine in the region and assist in the immediate facilitation of disaster relief augmentation assistance, if needed.
All concerned DSWD FOs along the track of Tropical Storm Kristine are also on standby for possible relief augmentation requests and other forms of assistance.
