DSWD prepares relief goods in Central, Eastern Visayas ahead of Odette landfall

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) offices in Central and Eastern Visayas have readied relief goods to be distributed to families that will be affected by Severe Tropical Storm Odette now that it has entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

In a Facebook post, the DSWD Region VII or Central Visayas said that they have allotted 23,642 family food packs—of which, 6,658 are for Bohol, 14,911 are for Cebu, and 2,073 are for Negros Oriental.

They also have a total of P752,250 in emergency standby funds.

Their non-food items also include 2,434 packs of hygiene kits, 14,647 malongs, 958 packs of family clothing kits, 500 pieces of modular tents, and 126 pieces of mats, among others.

Three regional quick response teams composed of 150 members each are also on standby alert to provide disaster relief or humanitarian services if needed.

Meanwhile, the DSWD Easten Visayas said that they have readied 20,600 family food packs worth P10,385,473 that are stored in various strategic warehouses in the whole region.

Of these food packs, 4,626 are for the Regional Resource Operations Section, 1,200 for Eastern Samar, 3,694 for Northern Samar, 980 for Samar, and 100 for Biliran.

The DSWD Eastern Visayas said it also activated a quick response team to continuously monitor the storm and to respond to the needs of the concerned LGUs.

“Patuloy namang nagpapaalala ang ahensya na ayon sa Republic Act 10121, ang LGU ang unang rumeresponde sa mga sakuna. Maaring mag-release ng mga relief goods ang DSWD kapag mag-request ang mga LGU,” the statement read.

(We want to issue a reminder that according to Republic Act 10121, the LGUs should be the first ones to respond during disasters. The DSWD may release relief goods upon the request of the LGUs.)

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) had suspended land travel in the Eastern Visayas starting Tuesday, 8 a.m., except for those already in transit, due to the threat from Odette.

Further, the NDRRMC said that over P900 million worth of relief goods have been readied for those who will be possibly affected by the severe tropical storm.

In its afternoon weather bulletin, PAGASA said Odette was 1,000 kilometers east of Mindanao at 3 p.m. with maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometers per hour and gustiness up to 125 kph. It was moving west-northwest at 25 kph.

The state weather bureau said that the Eastern Visayas and Mindanao may be placed under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal Number 1 on Tuesday night. — DVM, GMA News