DSWD Field Office Eight Director Remia Tapispisan today called off the ongoing Training on Camp Management and Camp Coordination in Ormoc City for the 70 participants to return to their posts to prepare for the approaching super typhoon, said to hit Region Eight towards the end of the week.

The said five – day training, which begun November 4, is one measure of strengthening linkages with local government units (LGUs) and other key players in running an evacuation center, and that of introducing techniques and strategies for effective and efficient management of temporary refuge camps for disaster victims.

Said Regional Director Remia Tapispisan of DSWD Field Office Eight, some of the participants were members of the office’s Quick Response Team (QRT) which is now being activated with the approaching big typhoon. The QRT is composed of different committees which renders 24 – hour duty at the field office to monitor and receive reports of damage from the so-called Social Welfare And Development Teams (SWADTs) organized by the field office in all of the six provinces of the region.

The QRT is also tasked to be on standby for any requests for augmentation assistance for food and non – food items as well as manpower, if the provincial government can no longer meet the LGUs’ needs during the relief phase.

The DSWD Field Office Eight Director reported that though the agency no longer stays at the frontline as direct service deliverer in times of disasters, it, however, extends support to supplement if needed. Such shift of mandate is by virtue of the passage of the Local Government Code of 1991.

Pauline Nadera, the focal person for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Program of the field office, bared that family food packs have been pre-positioned in 13 disaster – prone areas . Priority areas issued of said relief aid of 500 family packs are the municipalities of Palo, Abuyog, Javier, MacArthur, Mahaplag, and La Paz of Leyte province, St. Bernard and San Juan of Southern Leyte, Sta. Rita, Pagsanghan, and Tarangnan of Samar, and the cities of Borongan and Tacloban.

She added that the office is maintaining a stockpile of 2,000 food packs that amounts to Php250.00 each and is good for a family of five for a day’s consumption.

Meanwhile, Tacloban City Social Welfare and Development Officer, Liliosa Baltazar, who attended the Camp Management and Camp Coordination Training, revealed the readiness of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council as well as the communities of the impending disaster. She mentioned the increased level of awareness among community folks on the threats and impacts of hazards such as typhoons.

Said Baltazar, the DSWD’s Team Balikatan Rescue in Emergency (TEAMBRE) being piloted in the city, is teaching communities to be resilient and to be prepared for any disaster.

The pilot project is being implemented in Barangays 88, 89 and 90 of San Jose District, for the benefit of 50 fisherfolk who were trained as disaster volunteers.