The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) coordinated with concerned local government units (LGUs) in bringing the spirit of Christmas to Mount Kanlaon evacuees through simultaneous holiday-special activities in evacuation centers across Western and Central Visayas.
DSWD Assistant Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Irene Dumlao said food distribution, gift-giving, fun-filled games, among other interactive activities for all ages, were held for the evacuees on December 24 and 25.
“We worked together to pool our resources to organize these activities, so that we can bring in the spirit of Christmas to our Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) despite the challenging times,” Dumlao, who is also the DSWD’s spokesperson, said in a statement Thursday.
During the holidays, personnel of DSWD Field Offices (FO) 6 – Western Visayas and 7 – Eastern Visayas remained on duty to facilitate unhampered resource augmentation to LGUs and well-coordinated aid for IDPs, according to the DRMG official.
“This has been the protocol since Kanlaon erupted and raised its volcanic status to Alert Level 3. We make sure that even on weekends or holidays, our disaster response teams are on full-alert to swiftly address the needs of affected families and individuals,” Dumlao said.
The DSWD has already provided humanitarian assistance worth over P52 million to families affected by the volcanic activities of Mt. Kanlaon based on the December 26 (6:00 am) report of the Disaster Response Operations Management, Information and Communication (DROMIC),
A total of 11,883 families have been reportedly affected, with 4,454 families or 14,186 individuals taking refuge in the 32 open evacuation centers.
“Rest assured that the DSWD will remain in close coordination with the concerned localities. We are not putting our guards down and will continue to extend all required assistance until our kababayans are able to return to their normal lives and the situation settles down,” Dumlao added.
DSWD, LGUs bring Christmas cheers to Kanlaon evacuees
