Clark Freeport, Pampanga—The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation continued to provide relief goods and other assistance to earthquake-hit Mindanao, as it activated its Emergency Operation Center eight-company cluster to support the national government’s relief operations in the region.
In a statement, the PDRF said its clusters on food and nonfood; water, sanitation: power, fuel, energy; finance, insurance; search and rescue, medical; logistics, information communication and technology; and infrastructure will further help the disaster victims.
The clusters are part of the 150 companies of the foundation that immediately assisted the earthquake victims in Mindanao as mandated by the PDRF.
“Teams were already deployed in the affected areas to assess the needs there and coordinate the response effort of the private sector,” the statement said.
The assistance, worth several million pesos, consists of relief goods like food packs, water, and sanitation materials, among others. They were immediately dispatched to the disaster areas of Mindanao.
PDRF also said it assisted the national effort by providing air and ground support to reach about 188,000 victims in scattered and far-flung areas and evacuation centers.
Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of PLDT-Smart Communications and co-chair of the PDRF, said: “Using private expertise and resources is now becoming the global trend in helping people alleviate their suffering during disasters, like what happened in Mindanao.”
Ayala Corp. Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, co-chair of the PDRF, said the private sector is committed to helping affected people in Mindanao through the foundation.
As of Wednesday, those who extended help to the people of Mindanao include the Aboitiz Foundation/ Aboitiz Power, which donated P4.09 million worth of drinking water and 20,008 of relief bags for Kidapawan and Makilala; Air Asia, for transporting relief goods to the area: Air 21 with portable toilets; Ayala Foundation with volunteer efforts; Bank of Philippine Islands with response team deployment; PLDT with free internet for the command center in Makilala and 500 blankets for Kidapawan.
Smart Communication provided free calls and 25 tents for command centers and evacuation areas along with 500 blankets; the Tzu Chi Foundation gave 530 folding beds and 100 boxes of blankets; and Philippine Airlines transported 326 folding beds to Davao City.
Also contributing to the relief effort are Manila Water with 2,000 5-gallon water bottles for Makilala and Tulunan, Maynilad with 1,200 gallons of drinking water, 400 water jugs, 788 water filters, and a mobile water treatment plant for the Defense Department, and efforts from 100 other companies.