DSWD sets 29-K food packs for Cordillera rain-affected families

FOOD PACKS -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Cordillera has 30,000 family food packs for people affected by southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoon Fabian. Here, volunteers ready food packs at the DSWD warehouse in La Trinidad, Benguet. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot)

By Liza Agoot  

BAGUIO CITY – The Dept. of Social Welfare and Development in the Cordillera Administrative Region stocked nearly 30,000 family food packs in its facilities in the six provinces that it covers, to augment local supply for families affected by the continuous rains due to enhanced southwest monsoon.
    Albert Mogol, regional director of the Cordillera Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) and Office of Civil Defense, in a situational report, said the DSWD has on stockpile 22,151 family food packs at the regional warehouse in La Trinidad, Benguet; 2,000 in Abra; 1,926 in Apayao; 1,234 in Ifugao; 1,343 in Mountain Province and 1,189 in Kalinga, all worth PHP15.06 million.
    Each pack contains rice, 3-in-1 coffee, canned fish, canned meat, and noodles.
    The DSWD has also readied 2,000 packs each of ready-to-eat food like "champorado" and arroz caldo.
    The agency has likewise placed on standby 185 tents; 500 modular tents; 2,470 boxes of sleeping kits; 1,490 boxes of family kits; 642 sets of hygiene kit; 1,252 boxes of kitchen kits; 34 rolls of laminated sacks and 10,953 pieces of "malong".
    Mogol reported last week, there were 31 families or 129 persons evacuated from their homes due to heavy rains and strong wind as a result of the "habagat" or southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoon Fabian.
    Eleven families were brought to evacuation centers in different areas of Benguet, Kalinga, and Mt. Province while 20 families sought shelter with their relatives.
    Mogol said there were five houses reported to be totally damaged while 16 were partially damaged.
    He noted that there are 2,063 evacuation centers spread out in different barangays in the region with only four currently in use to accommodate the 11 families.
    Meanwhile, the Baguio City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, in a separate report, said there were 42 families or 171 persons affected by the continuous rains in the locality. Nine families are staying in an evacuation center while 33 are with relatives.
    Baguio was also reported to have 27 incidents of landslides. -- PNA