MORE FOOD NEEDED: Evacuation centers in Cebu running low on provisions as number of evacuees rises

The worst may be over for Cebu but the challenge to feed over 10,000 displaced residents is beginning to hound officials.

Typhoon Ruby (international name: Hagupit) has yet to complete its crossing of the Visayas but evacuation centers especially those in northern Cebu are running low on food and water as the number of evacuees has increased overnight.

Gov. Hilario Davide III said  some of the mayors  yesterday expressed fear that the food supply in evacuation centers might not be enough.

“That is why I asked the PGSO  (general services office) and the PSWDO (social welfare office) to work faster,” he told reporters.

Towns in Camotes and Bantayan islands were cut off from the provincial government’s relief assistance network due to the existing storm warning signal over Cebu which prohibits ferry crossings. “Once it is cleared, we will immediately deploy the goods to them,”  Davide said.

Jone Siegfred Sepe, head of the Provincial General Services Office, said delivery of goods to the islands will commence once the Coast Guard gives the go signal to sail. He said that the Philippine Navy has committed to transport the relief goods. Relief goods and supplies for Bantayan Island were prepositioned at the Hagnaya Port in San Remigio town.

Meanwhile, Provincial Social Welfare Office head Rose Jao said they have adequate supply for every local government unit. She said the Capitol has prepositioned commodities in bulk at warehouses in Bogo City and Argao.

Jao said that LGUs from the north may get their relief supplies from Bogo City while those from the south may get theirs from Argao. As of yesterday, Medellin, Borbon, Liloan, Talisay City, San Remigio, and Compostela have claimed their relief supplies.

More than 128,000 individuals have been evacuated since yesterday morning. In Pilar, Camotes Island, at least 3,500 have been moved to safety.

Mayor Jesus Fernandez Jr. said their food supply will only last them until Tuesday.

Despite this, he said he is not worried. “We’ve already prepared for that even before the storm,” he said adding they have reserve stock at the National Food Authority (NFA) warehouse in Tudela.

Heide Aplece, Daanbantayan Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) head, said they were looking for ways to address the shortage.

Supply of rice and canned food were slowly depleted as Ruby continued to make its presence felt with its strong winds and heavy rains.

Aplece said they had asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Central Visayasto send in more relief packs.

As of 9:23 p.m. Saturday, the MSWDO records showed that 7,136 families were in 86 evacuation centers and 383 others stayed in other people’s homes.

Aplece said they asked for an additional 100 sacks from the National Food Authority (NFA).

Only about 5,000 relief packs were distributed as of Saturday evening.

Daanbantayan Mayor Augusto Corro said he is sending a truck to Cebu City today to collect relief goods and other supplies from the Cebu provincial government and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“So far, maka-sustain pa mi hangtod tonight.  Ugma kinahanglan na mi mokuha ug back up gikan sa province ug sa DSWD.  Ang among fall back is to buy from local suppliers (We can still sustain our needs until tonight but tomorrow, we need to get help from the provincial government and the DSWD. Our fall back is to buy provisions from local suppliers),” Corro told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview last night.

Corro said they only got 200 sacks of rice on Thursday to take care of the evacuees’ needs.  Their buffer stock is nearly depleted.

The municipal government of Medellin also posted on their Facebook page that “we are running low on relief packs and water due to the early evacuation plus the very high number of evacuees.”

Medellin town accommodated 7, 891 evacuees coming from 19 barangays.

Bantayan mayor Ian Christopher Escario is also faced with the same problem.

Escario said food supply in their island municipality is beginning to dwindle because of their failure to stock up on more supplies. Ferry crossings were suspended since Thursday because of huge waves and  residents are already complaining of low food supply.

Strong winds and rain shower were still felt in Bantayan island yesterday afternoon. Corro said strong winds and road obstructions which include fallen bamboo and banana trees and other debris prevented him from sending their truck to Cebu City late yesterday afternoon.

“Paninguhaon nato nga maka kuha ta ug additional food supply.  Ang akong hangyo sa mga tawo, gamay lang nga sakripisyo (I’ll try my best to get additional food supply. I’m just appealing to the people to be patient) ,” he said.

Corro said officials of the island barangays of Malapascua and Carnasa have been calling him yesterday to ask for food.

The two barangays were unable to collect packed food  from the municipal hall on Thursday as  huge waves cut them off, he said.

He said residents of barangay Maya are also complaining of lack of  potable water as their  generator set which powers the community’s water filtration system conked out.

DSWD’s Soliman reminded local officials to immediately distribute the relief goods to their constituents affected by the typhoon.

The agency pointed out that food and rice supplies were pre-positioned even before the typhoon hit, so that local government units could repack the relief goods for easier distribution.

“We ask our local chief executives to distribute the relief goods quickly to their constituents who are now in evacuation centers because of the preemptive evacuation,” said Social Welfare secretary Corazon Soliman.

LGUs which have not yet received relief goods were ordered to immediately inform the DSWD.

“We have learned our lesson during typhoon Yolanda when distribution of food packs was delayed because these have to be repacked first before given to LGUs. Hence, we have already provided the relief goods for the LGUs to repack,” Soliman said.

The DSWD said they conducted an orientation on disaster response and management for employees who volunteered to be deployed in the typhoon-hit regions.

DSWD assistant secretary Vilma Cabrera oriented the employees on their roles and responsibilities upon deployment, reminding them that they must be physically and mentally fit, as well as their families.

“Disaster management aims to save lives and property, minimize costs of damage, organize work and action among players, and speed up reconstruction and rehabilitation of areas devastated by disasters,” she said.

The first batch of employees left on a C-130 plane on Sunday and will be deployed for at least 10 days.

The DSWD reported yesterday that they have delivered 10,000 food packs from the Cebu International Convention Center to Borongan, Eastern Samar, to augment the supplies of residents of storm-hit areas.

The supplies were airlifted via a C-130 military cargo plane that took off  from the Benito Ebuen Air Base in Mactan, Cebu./with reports from Michelle Joy L. Padayhag and Carinne M. Asutilla