The Department of Social Welfare and Development in Western Visayas (DSWD-6) has released P8,025,361.45 worth of relief aid to local government units (LGUs) affected mostly by flooding due to heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon that was enhanced by Typhoon “Goring.”

“We continue to provide augmentation to our local government units although we are still checking and coordinating if there are still LGUs that are yet to submit reports of their affected families,” DSWD Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Division information officer Therese Fely Legaste said in an interview.

She said Antique was provided with P337,312 worth of relief aid; Iloilo, P3.4 million; Negros Occidental, P2.9 million; Bacolod City, P1.1 million; and Iloilo City, P99,400.

Legaste said they were also checking if the LGUs are still capable of assisting their affected constituents, otherwise, they could request augmentation in the form of family food packs (FFPs) and non-food items (NFIs).

“We are prepared because we have prepositioned goods in our warehouses. We also request augmentation from our national resource operations office,” she said.

They have 4,872 FFPs in their regional warehouse in Iloilo province’s Oton town; 5,203 in Bacolod, 31 in Negros Occidental’s Himamaylan City, and 3,188 in other strategic preposition sites in Western Visayas.

The 55,000 FFPs from their central office are expected to arrive.

She added that 30,000 FFPs were also requested ahead of “Goring” for stockpiling.

The DSWD Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center has recorded 65,036 families, consisting of 236,219 individuals, affected by the inclement weather in Western Visayas.

Currently, 10,257 families are still in 369 evacuation centers, while 5,311 families opted to stay with their relatives. (PNA)