Staff from DSWD Field Office X serve hot meals to flooding-affected families staying at Brgy. Bulua Covered Court in Cagayan de Oro City. The covered court has been used as evacuation center since Monday, January 16.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through its concerned Field Offices (FOs) has provided relief assistance to families affected by massive flooding due to heavy rain brought by the tail-end of a cold front over Eastern and Central Visayas and Northern Mindanao.

According to the 3AM report today by the DSWD-Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center (DROMIC), the weather disturbance has affected a total of 12,079 families or 60,249 persons in 145 barangays in Negros Island Region (NIR) and Regions VII, VIII, IX and X.

Some 8,504 families or 44,286 persons were displaced, of whom, 8,202 families or 43,024 persons are taking temporary shelter in 126 evacuation centers set up by local government units (LGUs).

The bulk of evacuees are from Region X in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Gingoog in Misamis Oriental, and Iligan City in Lanao del Norte where severe flooding occurred on Monday.

Meanwhile, there are 47 damaged houses in Region X,  33 of which were partially damaged, while 14 were reported as totally damaged.

The DSWD through its field offices in Regions NIR, VII, VIII, IX, and X continues to coordinate with the LGUs of the affected areas to ensure the provision of needs to the evacuees.

FO X is preparing to augment family food packs (FFPs) today to the LGUs that have been greatly affected by the flooding incident in the region. These include 1,117 FFPs and dignity kits for Cagayan de Oro City, 126 food packs for the municipality for Lagonglong, 94 FFPs and dignity kits for the City of Gingoog, and 320 food packs for Iligan City. The FO also provided hot meals last night to families staying in evacuation centers.

To date, the Department has provided P2,689,327 worth of assistance to affected families in Regions VII, VIII, and X, with the bulk amounting to P2,465,571 provided to LGUs in hard-hit areas in Northern Mindanao.

DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo commended the quick response made by the LGUs of the affected cities and municipalities, and assured the public that the DSWD is ready to augment additional resources whenever needed.

“Maagap po ang naging tugon ng ating mga LGUs at mahigpit din po ang naging pagsuporta ng DSWD sa ginawang aksyon nila bilang first responder sa kalamidad (The LGUs were quick to respond to the needs of the affected families. The DSWD supported their actions as first responders during the occurrence of the calamity),” the welfare chief said. ###