THE Department of Social Welfare and Development regional office here has already released more than P87 milllion for relief assistance to typhoon survivors in Western Visayas.

As of this writing, records of DSWD6 show that a total of 332,855 were already served with family packs, or 58 percent of the total 575,200 registered affected families in the region. The total cost of assistance provided by the agency amounted to P87,073,366.72.

In a presentation during the Regional Development Council committee meeting, DSWD6 director Ma. Evelyn Macapobre said the agency continues to provide relief packs to the typhoon survivors and reassured it has enough funds for relief operations.

The DSWD6 has already distributed relief goods to hard to reach areas and island barangays especially in the northern towns of Iloilo like Carles and Estancia.

While there were challenges that caused some delay in relief operations, she said they were able to overcome them with the cooperation of the DSWD staff and the volunteers who worked hard to be able to give relief to typhoon survivors. The willingness of the local government units to do their share had also helped in making the delivery of relief supplies faster.

Since the start of the relief operations on November 9, more than 11,000 registered volunteers were mobilized in the four packing centers that are located at the DSWD Field Office VI compound in Molo, Iloilo City; the covered gym of the Iloilo Sports Complex in La Paz, Iloilo City; in the town of Barotac Viejo in northern Iloilo and in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

Director Macapobre also emphasized that early preparations and pre-emptive measures adopted by the agency in coordination with the local government units have lessened the number of casualties and fast delivery of family packs to the affected people. Among these are the prepositioning of family packs in the six provinces, intensive information dissemination warning the public on the coming of the typhoon and preparations that need to be done, the deployment of all workers in the field and the 24/7 operation that started even a day before the disaster strike.

Kind-hearted Ilonggos also promptly responded to the call of DSWD to donate especially clothes and things that typhoon survivors can use while recovering from disaster.

The DSWD6 has received at least P4 million worth of goods from the academe, national government agency, organizations/groups, private individuals and concerned citizens since November 10. The biggest donor is the Department of Agriculture, which donated truckloads of rice, canned goods, noodles and eggs worth P3.5 million./dswd6/Wenna Berondo-Bendol