DSWD prepositions 1.9M food packs as #UwanPH approaches

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is prepared to respond to communities that may be affected by Super Typhoon Uwan, Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao said during a forum on Saturday.

Dumlao said the agency’s Quick Response Teams are on red alert across various field offices, with relief supplies already prepositioned in areas projected to be within the typhoon’s path.

According to Dumlao, 1.9 million family food packs (FFPs) have been prepositioned nationwide. Nearly 300,000 of these are stored in warehouses in Region 3, including 40,000 packs in Aurora province — an area expected to experience heavy rain.

Region 2 has more than 148,000 family food packs: over 11,000 in Nueva Vizcaya, 8,000 in Quirino, 46,000 in Isabela, and 66,000 in Cagayan. The Cordillera Administrative Region has over 68,000 prepositioned packs, while Region 1 has around 100,000 stored across Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, and Pangasinan.

“You can see that the Department of Social Welfare and Development is prepared, those goods are already on the ground. It's just a matter of accessing this or dispatching it to the local government units who will request for augmentation,” Dumlao said.

The DSWD also deployed mobile command centers, mobile kitchens, and water filtration trucks to ensure uninterrupted humanitarian operations.

Meanwhile, Dumlao noted that assistance to communities previously hit by Typhoon Tino remains ongoing. She emphasized that aid will continue beyond emergency response and into recovery, including the rollout of Emergency Cash Transfer (ECT).

The spokesperson added that more than 400 portable water filtration kits have been distributed to Tino-affected areas to ensure access to clean drinking water.