Upon confirmation by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) and weather permitting, relief aid for families affected by Typhoon Ferdie will be airlifted via C130 tomorrow to Batanes.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo has once again given her assurance to the residents of Batanes that everything is being done to deliver the needed assistance as soon as possible.

DSWD has a relief shipment of 20,000 pieces of ready-to-eat (RTE) Brown Rice Bars, 800 Family Food Packs (FFPs), 5,000 pieces of Malong, 5,000 bottles of water, 3 units of Genset from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and DSWD, 40 rolls of ropes, and 30 rolls of laminated sacks. These goods have been at the Villamor Airbase since September 14.

The airlift shall proceed as soon as a safe window of opportunity is available and shall transport the abovementioned items along with the Rapid Emergency Telecommunications Team (RETT) and the Rapid Damage and Needs Analysis (RDANA) team from Region II.

As  of 6 am today, some 2,710 families or 10,344 persons from Regions I and II have been displaced due to Typhoon Ferdie of whom 20 families or 151 persons are still inside  three evacuation centers in Basco, Batanes while 2,651 families or 10,063 persons temporarily took shelter in their relatives’ and friends’ houses.

Aside from the relief supplies that will be airlifted, the DSWD-Field Office II has initially provided 110 sacks of rice, 46 boxes of meatloaf, 56 boxes of sausage and 21 boxes of sardines to the affected families in Basco, Batanes; 30 sacks of rice were provided to Ivana, Batanes; and 30 sacks of rice were provided to Uyugan, Batanes.

There are still 50 sacks of rice at the Provincial Social Welfare Office of Batanes for additional allocation to the affected municipalities. ###