The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has begun to process its Emergency Shelter Cash Assistance Project (ESCAP) for Typhoon Nina-affected families in Regions CALABARZON, MIMAROPA,​ ​ ​and Bicol.

Under the directive of DSWD Secretary Judy M. Taguiwalo, teams have already begun to assess and validate the total number of partially and totally damaged houses in the affected regions to determine the amount needed for the target beneficiaries.

“We hope to immediately finish the assessment on the extent of the damages wrought by Typhoon Nina so we can start the distribution of emergency shelter cash assistance to the affected households. The cash aid will be used to purchase construction materials to repair the houses of families who lost their shelter due to ‘Nina’s’ devastation,”  the Secretary said.

Based on today’s latest report from the DSWD-Disaster Response Assistance and Management Bureau (DReAMB), some 197,787  houses were partially damaged and 82,384 were totally destroyed  in Regions CALABARZON, MIMAROPA and V.

Assistance to typhoon victims

Meanwhile, the Department is continuously augmenting resources and providing technical assistance to affected local government units (LGUs) to meet the emergency needs of the typhoon survivors.

Currently, a total of P182,473,574 worth of relief assistance has been provided to affected families in Regions CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, V & VIII, including those who were stranded in various ports in Regions V and VIII.

The DSWD provided assistance worth P166,976,473 while LGUs and non-government organizations (NGOs) provided a total of P4,225,832 and P11,271,270, respectively.

Sec. Taguiwalo also said that, “there are sufficient food packs in the affected municipalities and that the Department is continuously reminding concerned LGUs, who are the first responders and the primary responsible for the distribution of relief items, to act on the needs of their affected constituents.”

She reiterated that complaints on the distribution of relief supplies and other disaster-related services can be sent to ereklamo.dswd.gov.ph,  a complaint management system being managed by DSWD-DReAMB.  Every complaint is assigned a unique ticket number which can be used to track the progress of responses online.

Aside from this, the citizens’ complaint hotline number, 8888, can also be used.  ###