Tacloban City – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to conduct incident stress debriefing (CISD) to victims of Typhoon Yolanda in Eastern Visayas.

A team of social workers were deployed to visit various evacuation centers to conduct CISD to affected individuals, especially to women and children.

As of December 5, the stress debriefers have served 141 women and children in different evacuations centers in this city alone.

Stress debriefing is a series of sessions that enable disaster victims to overcome crises such as loss of a loved one and loss of properties, and return to their normal psychosocial functioning.

Participants are asked to share their experiences and the social workers assess their level of recovery and their needed interventions.

In support to this, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund have offered to refurbish a pension house in the city that can be used as a venue for stress debriefing and provide distraught women and children a resting facility during their recovery period.

“As of the moment, we are still in the process of identifying a potential pension house which we can use. We are thankful for the support of UNICEF and UNFPA as providing an ideal place where stress debriefing can be conducted is very critical in ensuring that the victims would overcome their trauma,” DSWD Assistant Secretary Vilma Cabrera, who heads the disaster relief operations in Eastern Visayas, said.