OTON, Iloilo-Victims of tornado which hit this town late last year received P180,000 in Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) each from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office VI.

“I and my family lost our home during the tornado and we had to build a makeshift shelter where we could stay. Now that we have this amount, we could already buy housing materials to have our houses fixed. This is a big help to us,” said Jonna Perigil of barangay San Antonio.

A total of 18 victims from Barangays Caboloan, Abilay Norte, San Antonio, Sta. Monica and Galang received the assistance amounting to P10,000 each from DSWD Protective Services head Rosario Sanagustin as witnessed by Mayor Vicente Flores Jr., United Nations-Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) Officer Kenga Shandralingam and members of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (RDRRMC).

The tornado hit the town in November 4 last year, totally destroying houses and partially damaging 20 more shelters.

“This is an augmentation to the Local Government Unit’s resources to help the victims buy housing materials and be able to get back on their feet again,” Sanagustin said./dswd6/May Rago-Castillo