DSWD deploys more mobile kitchens to Cebu quake-hit evacuees

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) deployed three more mobile kitchens in select evacuation areas in Cebu to ensure that families affected by the recent 6.9-magnitude earthquake and currently staying in temporary shelters have access to warm, home-cooked food.

Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao of the DSWD’s Disaster Response Management Group (DRMG) said the agency’s field offices in CALABARZON, Eastern Visayas, and Western Visayas have sent their mobile kitchens to augment the resources of Field Office 7–Central Visayas.

“Each region is allocated with a mobile kitchen as part of the Department’s intensified disaster response initiatives. The food truck facilities were distributed to the field offices in the first quarter of the year,” Dumlao said on Saturday, 4 October 2025.

The mobile kitchen from Western Visayas arrived early Saturday and proceeded to the San Remigio Sports Complex in San Remigio town, while mobile kitchens from CALABARZON and Eastern Visayas are now en route to Cebu and are expected to be operational either by Sunday or Monday.

Dumlao highlighted the importance of providing freshly cooked meals to affected individuals apart from boxes of family food packs (FFPs) and ready-to-eat food (RTEF) that the department has already distributed.

“With an extended period of disaster relief and recovery, the provision of hot meals is important to prevent the affected individuals and families from suffering FFP-fatigue. Moreso, the DSWD recognizes the importance of ensuring that evacuees have access to nutritious food at this unfortunate time,” Dumlao said.

As of October 3, the DSWD has provided a total of 75,100 FFPs to augment the resources of the 11 local government units hardest hit by the earthquake, according to the agency.