DSWD on red alert for Tropical Storm Caloy

MANILA, Philippines —The Department of Social Welfare and Development is on red alert as it prepares for the possible impact of Tropical Storm Caloy, Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Sunday. Gatchalian said all its field offices were instructed to closely coordinate with the concerned provincial governments as well as local government units (LGUs) in anticipation of possible pre-emptive evacuations especially in the Visayas and Mindanao where “Caloy” might pass and dump rain. In its Sunday advisory, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said that “Caloy” would not directly affect the country but it would  dump rain in Mindanao and Visayas. Assistant Secretary Irene Dumlao of DWSD’s Disaster Response Management Group, who also serves as the agency’s spokesman, said the FOs are fully prepared to distribute more than 4.7 million boxes of family food packs. The DSWD has over 5,600 family tents, more than 23,300 modular tents, over 9,600 family water filtration kits, more than 4,600 laminated sack rolls, and over 2,400 tarpaulin rolls, Dumlao told The Manila Times. Disaster response vehicles and equipment are on standby to ensure the swift delivery of aid to affected communities, she said. These include the mobile command center, mobile kitchen, water tanker trucks, and mobile water treatment vehicles.

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