Relief and recovery efforts intensified across Southern Mindanao on Tuesday as national agencies, local governments and international partners mobilized additional resources for communities devastated by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Sarangani and nearby provinces last week.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) deployed additional Quick Response Teams to Sarangani, one of the hardest-hit areas, with 153 personnel from the central office and field offices set to rotate in batches to support relief operations.
DSWD spokesperson Irene Dumlao said the teams would help manage evacuation centers and operate Mobile Command Centers and Mobile Kitchens deployed from other regions./
The City Government of Davao also dispatched a 42-member humanitarian team to General Santos City, Sarangani and Jose Abad Santos, bringing 4,000 boxes of welfare goods and 3,000 bottles of drinking water.
The mission follows earlier assistance that included water distribution and the medical evacuation of patients from Sarangani to the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.
In Cebu, provincial officials approved P35 million in financial assistance for earthquake-hit local governments, including General Santos City, Sarangani, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental and South Cotabato.
The Cebu provincial government also sent food packs, hygiene kits, sleeping kits, bottled water and ready-to-eat meals to affected communities.
Search, rescue and retrieval operations continued in remote areas of Glan, Sarangani, where Bureau of Fire Protection personnel from several regions remained deployed despite damaged roads, landslides and continuing aftershocks.