The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is set to release  P513,722,930  anytime soon as an initial funding for its Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) for households whose houses were partially and totally damaged by Typhoon Nina.

The typhoon displaced thousands of families and damaged houses in CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, Bicol, and Eastern Visayas regions when it hit the country on December 24-27, 2016.

ESA is the assistance immediately provided to victims of disasters with partially and totally damaged houses. A uniform amount of P5,000  is given to each household as an initial help to rebuild their houses.  The total amount of assistance to be provided to households with partially damaged houses will be P10,000, while those with totally destroyed houses will receive P30,000.  Beneficiaries will receive the total amount corresponding to the extent of damage of their houses based on DSWD assessment and validation.

The Department would need P4.35 billion to fund the ESA for some 248,242 households.

DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo disclosed that she has already endorsed the Department’s rehabilitation plan for the ESA to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) for funding.

“We are doing everything that we can to immediately provide the ESA to households who lost their homes due to ‘Nina’. We want them to be able to start rebuilding their houses, so they can also rebuild their lives,” Sec. Taguiwalo said.

Moreover, the welfare chief has earlier ordered the deployment of three Quick Response Teams (QRTs) from the DSWD Central Office to the affected regions to assist the field offices (FOs) for the ESA assessment and validation.

The typhoon has affected 547,237 families or 2,431,574 individuals.  Some 535 families or 2,663 persons are still staying in 30 evacuation centers up to this time.

To date, a total of P245,908,401 worth of relief assistance has been provided to affected families with P228,405,799 coming from the Department and P6,118,832 and P11,383,770 from the local government units (LGUs) and non-government organizations (NGOs), respectively.

‘Auring’-evacuees

Meanwhile, the DSWD also continues to coordinate with concerned local government units (LGUs) on the status of the 507 families or 2,206 individuals displaced by Tropical Depression Auring and who are still staying in 13 evacuation centers in the CARAGA Region.

DSWD-Field Office CARAGA has been coordinating with the LGUs of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur to ensure the provision of relief assistance in the form of family food packs (FFPs) and food and non-food items (FNFIs) to the evacuees.

‘Auring’ has affected a total of 9,132 families or 38,950 individuals in 167 barangays in Regions VII and CARAGA when it hit the northeastern part of Mindanao and Western Visayas last weekend.

To date, a total of P2,576,579.83 worth of relief assistance has been provided to the affected families. Of the said amount, the Department extended P732,051.83, while the LGUs poured in a total of P1,844,528.

‘Auring’ has weakened into a low pressure area (LPA) on Monday morning and will exit the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) today, according to state weather bureau PAG-ASA. ###