Personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7) prepare relief goods for storm victims in a warehouse in Cebu.
CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO
TWENTY thousand family food packs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7) have already been delivered to Biliran province, which is reeling from the havoc brought about by Tropical Storm Urduja last weekend.
Ma. Evelyn Macapobre, DSWD-7 regional director, said that they had 15,600 family food packs that were delivered on Wednesday to Biliran in coordination with the Philippine Navy.
Last Monday, Macapobre said that on Monday, they already delivered 2,700 family food packs and another 1,700 on Tuesday.
“The DSWD-7 has allocated 20,000 family food packs for the province of Biliran that we have already completely delivered,” Macapobre said.
A box of DSWD’s family food pack contains 6 kilograms of rice, 4 cans of sardines, 4 cans of corned beef or beef loaf, and 6 sachets of coffee or cereal energy drink.
Aside from Biliran,she said that the DSWD-7 had already provided at least 10,000 family food packs worth P3,758,400 in several cities and municipalities that were affected by Tropical Storm Urduja.
These are for Cebu province— 4,200 packs to Daanbantayan town, 5,000 packs to Medellin town, 29 packs to Madridejos, 51 packs to Pilar town in Camotes Islands, and 1,000 packs to Toledo City.
Aside from that, they also delivered 160 food packs to Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental.
Macapobre also said that the DSWD-7 is also prepositioning around 1,000 family food packs for quick delivery to the municipalities of San Francisco, Poro, Pilar in Camotes islands and Tabogon town in northern Cebu.
Macapobre said that Tabogon has requested for these food packs as preparation for the forecasted weather disturbance in the coming days.
Macapobre, however, said that the DSWD-7 has 20,000 food packs on standby.
“Even if in the forecast of PAGASA, the weather disturbance has slightly weakened but we don’t want to be caught off guard. We are doing the necessary preparations,” she said.
Jhomer Eclarino, weather specialist of Pagasa-Mactan, said that the low pressure area which entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility at 10 a.m. on Wednesday has developed into a tropical depression, which is called Vinta.
Repacking
Meanwhile, Macapobre admitted that they are experiencing less daily production in repacking family food packs in their Visayas Disaster Response Center (VDRC), after their mechanized production system was not yet operational when they transferred to another warehouse.
Last October, VDRC was transferred from a warehouse in Barangay Casuntingan, Mandaue City to a warehouse in Barangay Tingub that they are now renting.
“We are doing manual repacking as of the moment in which, we can produce around 4,000 to 5,000 family food packs per day. Before, with the mechanized production system, we can produce 12,000 family food packs per day. But the machine is designed to produce up to 50,000 family food packs per day,” she said.
Aside from these, DSWD-7 is also having problems with purchasing rice from the National Food Authority (NFA), after the agency has implemented a limitation in releasing NFA rice.
She revealed that NFA has only authorized them to purchase 300 sacks of rice, but they are appealing to the said agency to increase it to 1,500 sacks of rice.
“As of the moment, we do not encourage volunteers to help in repacking family food packs because we don’t have enough supply of rice yet,” Macapobre added.
Macapobre also said that DSWD-7 is willing to accept donations coming from private individuals and organizations, but they have to make sure that these are safe and still usable.