The Department of Social Welfare and Development said it is fully prepared to assist families affected by Tropical Storm Basyang, which made its first landfall in Surigao del Sur on Thursday.

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the agency has sufficient family food packs and other relief goods ready for distribution to local government units.

Gatchalian made the assurance during the Kapihan ng Samahang Plaridel forum held Friday at the Rizal Park Hotel in Manila.

Following the storm’s initial landfall in Surigao del Sur, volunteers from the DSWD field office in Caraga distributed food packs to 370 residents of Barangay Barcelona.

The agency also deployed personnel to the municipalities of Tagbina in Surigao del Sur and Jagna in Bohol to set up modular tents for possible evacuees.

With the Philippine Coast Guard suspending sea travel in parts of Mindanao and the Visayas based on advisories from PAGASA, DSWD field offices in affected areas provided ready-to-eat food to stranded passengers.

In its 2 p.m. Tropical Cyclone Bulletin, PAGASA said the center of Basyang was last located over Bilar, Bohol, and had weakened into a tropical depression.

The weather bureau added that Basyang is expected to further weaken into a low-pressure area on Saturday, 7 February, before hovering over the coastal waters of Nueva Valencia, Guimaras.