PNA
MANILA – In the aftermath of the latest eruption of Mt. Kanlaon early Tuesday morning, personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office – Western Visayas (FO-6) immediately visited the evacuation centers in the Negros Island Region (NIR) to check on the condition of the evacuees.
“Immediate response, in any type of disaster or emergency, is crucial. And to think of it, this is even more needed by our Mt. Kanlaon evacuees who have been displaced for almost five months now. We have to assure them that we are looking after their needs,” Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao of the DSWD’s Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) said in a news release.
Based on records, there are 1,763 families or 5,678 individuals from La Castellana town and the cities of La Carlota and Bago who are currently staying in evacuation centers.
The DSWD official said that ahead of the latest eruption, the agency had over 267,000 boxes of family food packs (FFPs) and PHP98 million worth of other food and non-food items (FNFIs) prepositioned in DSWD in Western and Central Visayas.
“These two FOs still provide the relief aid needed for disaster operations in Negros Island Region. Hence, we are making sure that our resources are already there and can be tapped at any time of the day in case the restiveness of Mt. Kanlaon escalates and requires a bigger request for relief augmentation,” Dumlao said.
The DSWD spokesperson also mentioned that the DSWD Disaster Response Management Bureau has just completed a technical assistance training on the operation, management, and maintenance of the agency’s mobile kitchen, water tanker, and water treatment facilities.
The training was attended by quick response teams from DSWD FO 6 and the NIR, and regional incidental management team, including local government units from La Castellana and La Carlota City — both of which are most severely impacted by the ongoing volcanic activity and currently managing evacuation centers sheltering internally-displaced persons.
“This training is complimentary for the deployment of our newly-procured mobile kitchen, water tanker, and water-treatment facilities, which are set to provide Mt. Kanlaon evacuees with more stabilized provision of hot meals and potable water,” Dumlao said. (PNA)
