DSWD maintains relief ops in ‘Marce’-hit areas as evacuees start to return home

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Following the lifting of all storm signals in the country, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to provide provision of relief items and augmentation support in areas badly hit by the storm.

Based on the latest bulletin issued by the DSWD Disaster Response Assistance and Management Bureau (DReAMB), 2,081 families or 9,353 persons were displaced by ‘Marce’ in Regions MIMAROPA, VI, Negros Island Region (NIR) and CARAGA. However, due to improvements in the weather, several evacuees start to return home.

Currently, there are 712 families or 3,346 persons seeking refuge in 53 evacuation centers in the affected regions, while 67 families or 327 persons are staying with their relatives and friends.

All concerned DSWD field offices maintain their close coordination with affected local government units (LGUs), specifically in the management of evacuation centers, distribution of relief goods, and monitoring of ground operations.

DSWD staff members and volunteers are also assisting in the repacking of relief items and provision of hot meals to the displaced families.

Meanwhile, DSWD Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo reiterated her call to the public to report any irregularities in the response and relief operations done in the affected areas.

“As our partners for change, we continue to remind our citizens to monitor all irregularities or failure of service during response and relief operations so that we can improve the process of our disaster response operations and provide all the immediate needs of affected communities,” said the Secretary.

Lastly, she also assured the public that the Department will continue to provide updates on the relief and response operations through the DSWD’s social media accounts, website, and the DSWD Virtual Operations Center (OpCen). ###