More volunteers needed for Mayon relief efforts
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Central Visayas is looking for volunteers to help in repacking relief goods for thousands of families affected by the series of eruptions of Mayon Volcano in Albay province.
DSWD-7 Information Officer Leah Quintana said 80 to 100 volunteers are needed daily to help expedite the repacking of relief goods at the Visayas Disaster Response Center (VDRC) in Mandaue City.
She said the VDRC’s mechanized production system is still under reassembling after it transferred to P.C. Suico Street, Barangay Tingub in Mandaue City from Barangay Casuntingan.
“Now we are preparing since at any given time, (DSWD) Central Office may be asking for augmentation. So we have to have a stock pile of packed food items,” she told The FREEMAN.
The mechanized system is designed to generate 50,000 food packs daily and that could feed around 250,000 people for three days.
But since it is not yet operational, Quintana said, the repacking of food items has to be done manually.
With manual repacking, she said, an average of 4,000 food packs a day could be produced.
The repacking of goods is facilitated primarily by members of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
The regional office is urging individuals or entities to help hasten the repacking of food items that would be distributed to 83,533 individuals staying in 59 evacuation centers in Albay.
For those interested to volunteer, contact DSWD-7 Field Office VII in Barangay Carreta, Cebu City, at 233-0261, and look for Lilibeth Cabiara to sign up.
After signing up, volunteers will be oriented about their tasks and will be scheduled for deployment.
Last Saturday, February 3, at least 145 volunteers composed of churchmen and students spent their weekends helping repack relief goods. They were able to produce 3,200 food packs.
The food packs have yet to be delivered to Region 5 or Bicol Region, said Quintana.
Aside from relief efforts for Albay residents, DSWD-7 is also supporting its counterpart in Region 8 or Eastern Visayas where some areas were battered by tropical cyclone Urduja last December 2017.
May B. Miasco/KBQ
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