Department of Social Welfare and Development Western Visayas Field Office (DSWD FO-6) and local officials, led by La Castellana, Negros Occidental Mayor Alme Rhummyla Mangilimutan, have come up with strategies to further improve assistance for families affected by Mt. Kanlaon’s eruption.

Among others, they will put a premium on psychosocial interventions for children through film showing, play and art therapy and counseling sessions in evacuation centers to help them regain a sense of normalcy, according to a news release on Monday, June 10.

DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao said Mangilimutan and members of the Disaster Response Management Division of DSWD FO-6 also tackled how to improve the provision of food and non-food items to displaced families and issues in coordination.

Dumlao, also the DSWD Assistant Secretary for Disaster Response Management Group, said they are monitoring 1,260 families or 4,391 individuals staying in eight evacuation centers as of Monday.

Based on the latest report of the DSWD-Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center, more than P5.5 million worth of humanitarian assistance has been distributed to affected localities in Negros Island.

Mt. Kanlaon erupted for six minutes on the night of June 3, producing a 5,000-meter plume.

It remains under Alert Level 2 and has registered fewer volcanic earthquakes and sulfur dioxide flux in the past 24 hours.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Kanlaon had six volcanic quakes from Sunday midnight, June 9, to Monday midnight, lower than the 17 tremors previously recorded. (PNA)