DSWD 11 ready for disaster response

THE regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD 11) said it is ready to respond on any disaster that will strike any area in the region, an official said.

DWSD 11 Disaster Risk Reduction Unit (DRRU) head Erna A. Sampiano told Sun.Star Davao in an interview that their unit is prepared to respond to affected families when disaster hits the region.

"We are prepared. We have enough funds for that and then my staff are equipped to manage the camp or evacuation center," Sampiano said yesterday.

DSWD, as the lead agency responsible for the protection of social welfare rights and promotion of social development, has conducted series of trainings for their staff and social workers to ensure their response-initiatives in dealing with disaster victims.

"We have trainings for our staff and we have also collaborated with other partner agencies that we can call on when disasters happen," she added.

According to her, the department has already prepared 30,000 family food packs relief items composed of six kilos of rice, four sardines, four corned beef and six sachets of coffee at their regional warehouse.

"We have reliefs on stock ready for distribution any given time. We also set 2,000 relief packs to local government units (LGU), to satellite areas and at the Crisis Intervention Unit

(CIU) that caters to the needs of victims," Sampiana noted.

With the mandate to augment the needs of the affected families, DSWD has also created a Disaster Action Team (DAT) or quick response team that is ready to be deployed when calamities occur. They also conduct psycho-social interventions to help the victims to get through with their trauma.

The agency has 3 million standby funds to be used in times of disaster. And once it was used, the central office will replenish the fund to expedite the relief assistance. JCR