The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) and several donors gave more than PHP2 million worth of additional relief aid to families displaced by the onslaught of Typhoon Odette in the Caraga region.

Caraga was among the heavily-hit areas when “Odette” made its first landfall in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte on Dec. 16, 2021.

Ivan Eric Salvador, DSWD-9 information officer, said Thursday the additional relief aid comprises 4,000 family relief packs and portable water containers worth PHP2,185,960.

Salvador said they also sent the donations handed over by the Police Regional Office 9, National Police Commission, Bureau of Fire Protection 9, and other donors who extended help for the typhoon victims.

The donations from other agencies and donors included bottled water, rice, and canned goods.

Salvador said the additional relief aid was transported Wednesday aboard military trucks to Caraga from this city in coordination with the Office of Civil Defense 9.

Fatima Caminan, DSWD-9 assistant director for operations, and DSWD-9’s Disaster Response Management Division chief Jamila Arasid oversaw the transport of the relief goods from the DSWD-9 to the DSWD 13 (Caraga).

The relief aid transported Wednesday was the second batch of humanitarian assistance the DSWD-9 had sent to the DSWD-13 intended for the victims of “Odette”.

The first relief aid worth PHP3.8 million was sent on December 20 aboard the BRP Ivatan of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Salvador said the DSWD-9 is continuously accepting donations such as food, drinking water, new clothes, sleeping and cleaning supplies, and household items for the typhoon victims.

He said their agency always maintains the quantities of stockpiles at the DSWD-9 warehouse in Barangay Tetuan in preparation for requests from local government units affected by “Odette” and other disasters in the region at the beginning of the year. (PNA)