The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will provide burial assistance to families whose loved ones were among the fatalities in the 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Cebu on Tuesday evening.
Social Welfare Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Irene Dumlao on Wednesday said the department’s Central Visayas field office will also provide P10,000 cash assistance to the families of the quake victims.
“The DSWD’s Field Office Central Visayas is now accounting the number of casualties and their location. Our social workers will also talk to the concerned families to inform them that the DSWD will shoulder the burial expenses of their loved ones,” Dumlao said.
The death toll from the earthquake continues to rise along with the number of injured and missing individuals, based on reports by Cebu’s Provincial Disaster Response and Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO).
The province of Cebu has since been placed under a state of calamity to allow the provincial government to respond quickly and effectively, as well as mobilize resources, extend immediate assistance to affected families, and implement rehabilitation measures for immediate recovery.
From Masbate, where he assisted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in distributing cash aid to 600 tropical cyclone “Opong”-affected families, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian was directed by the Chief Executive to proceed to Cebu to check on the condition of the families severely affected by the earthquake.
Dumlao said Gatchalian will be going around Cebu to see to it that all the urgent needs of affected families and evacuees are immediately addressed by the DSWD Field Office Central Visayas.
