THE Department of Social Welfare and Development has collaborated with local government units (LGUs) in ensuring the efficient delivery of assistance to families at the height of Typhoon Aghon.

DSWD Asst. Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) Irene Dumlao told Radyo Pilipinas said that the agency tapped the assistance of pre-identified LGUs to preposition relief items such as family food packs (FFPs) in their warehouses.

“The DSWD has already prepositioned family food packs (FFPs) and non-food items in strategic parts of the country. In fact, we entered into relief prepositioning agreements with some local government units para nga po magamit natin yung kanilang mga warehouses nang sa gayon ay yung mga family food packs ay mailagay natin doon sa kanilang lugar and ready na ma-access anytime po na kakailanganin,” Dumlao, who is also the DSWD spokesperson, said during the interview.

As of May 27, the DSWD has already provided more than P1.3 million worth of humanitarian assistance to the provinces of Marinduque, Oriental Mindoro, Albay, Camarines Sur and Sorsogon.

The DSWD Field Offices in typhoon-hit areas continue to coordinate with the LGUs to determine other interventions that may be provided to internally displaced individuals, the agency spokesperson said.

The DSWD also maintains more than P3 billion worth of standby and stockpile funds which can be tapped for disaster response operations, including some 1,616,551 boxes of FFPs worth P1.3 billion. These FFPs have been prepositioned in strategic locations around the country.

Dumlao reminded affected citizens to follow orders of authorities for the orderly distribution of assistance in their respective areas.

More than P1.2 million worth of humanitarian assistance have so far been given by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to families affected by Severe Tropical Storm ‘Aghon’ in the MIMAROPA and Bicol regions.

The DSWD continues to provide resource augmentation to assist the affected localities.

Aside from the DSWD aid, concerned local government units (LGUs) have extended assistance worth more than P479,000 to their affected constituents in the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, and Sorsogon, according to the DSWD spokesperson.

As of press time, the DSWD has more than Php 608 million in standby funds and over 1.6 million family food packs (FFPs) prepositioned in strategic locations nationwide.

Based on the latest DSWD-DRMG report, Severe Tropical Storm “Aghon” has affected a total of 8,902 families or 15,828 individuals from 94 barangays in CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas regions.

Of this number, 1,048 families or 2,371 individuals are currently sheltered in 54 evacuation centers set up by the LGUs in CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, Bicol and Western Visayas.