The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues its relief efforts to affected families in Region III and IV-A even as Typhoon “Butchoy” leaves the Philippine area of responsibility.

DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo asked affected citizens to report their situations on the ground and for those who have not yet received assistance to coordinate with the respective DSWD field offices in their areas and indicate exactly what they need.

“Our thrust is to provide timely and responsive assistance to Filipinos during times of calamities. We can do this through coordinated efforts and communication between the Central Office and the DSWD Field Offices, and the DSWD FOs and the citizenry. We have to work together to ensure that the help people need will reach them as soon as possible,” Taguiwalo said.

As of 7 p.m. of 9 July 2016, a total of 73 families in the province of Bataan and Zambales in Region III and Batangas and Rizal in Regin IV-A are in the 11 evacuation centers while 272 families are outside evacuation centers.

In Region III, the DSWD-FO III provided a total of 200 family food packs in Bataan, 100 of these were distributed to displaced families in Hermosa, Bataan and another 100 food packs were prepositioned to the DSWD Provincial Extension Office (DPEO) in the province.

As part of DSWD’s augmentation support, 60,000 family food packs from its National Resource Operations Center (NROC) are now being delivered to DSWD Field Office III to ensure readiness to respond to any request from the affected LGUs.”

Meanwhile, the DSWD Field Office in Region IV-A has prepositioned 1, 000 family food packs in Rizal and 897 food packs in Batangas. They are also constantly coordinating with response agencies and affected local government units (LGUs) for monitoring and appropriate actions.

In Metro Manila, DSWD FO-NCR monitored flooding in the cities of Mandaluyong, Pasay, Manila, Makati and Quezon City but no affected residential areas were reported and no incidence of evacuation happened.

At present, DSWD disaster teams in all regions are still on standby for possible deployment and assistance in disaster operations.