The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has provided more than P6.4 million in initial humanitarian assistance to families affected by Super Typhoon ‘Uwan.’
DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the assistance consisted of family food packs and non-food items that have been prepositioned in the various hubs, spokes, and last-mile warehouses nationwide.
“Before Typhoon Uwan, we had almost 2 million family food packs distributed all over the country, so those prepositioned goods are different from what is produced every day,” Gatchalian said, noting the amount of assistance is expected to increase as relief distributions are ongoing.
According to Gatchalian, they have enough food packs to accommodate the needs of local government units (LGUs) that are reaching out to aid their storm-affected constituents.
The DSWD has doubled its repacking operations to ensure the swift replenishment of food items delivered to affected areas.
This initiative aligns with President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s directive to provide an adequate supply of relief goods to address food requirements during calamities throughout the country.
“If before we used to produce about 18,000 family food packs on a regular day, now we have increased to 25,000 because we know that we need to augment or supply our local government units with family food packs,” the DSWD chief said.
Gatchalian explained that response operations for recent weather disturbances and disasters were distributed across multiple regions rather than staying focused on a single location.
Aside from relief goods, he said all the department’s equipment and specialized disaster vehicles were deployed in advance of any impending weather disturbances to support the ongoing relief operations. These include a mobile command center, a mobile kitchen, water trucks, and water treatment units.
