In an effort to maintain the dignity, health, and well-being of families affected by disasters, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reiterated that it discourages the donation of used clothes.
“We ask for the understanding of donors but we do not want to further degrade the dignity and compromise the health of disaster survivors by giving them used clothes, especially those that are unfit to use anymore,” DSWD Secretary Virginia Orogo said.
Sec. Orogo said that consistent with the provision of Republic Act No. 4653, the DSWD shall adhere to the “no used clothing donation” policy. This is to support the local garment industry and to prevent health hazards which may be transmitted through used clothing.
This reiteration came following reports that DSWD-Field Office VII received a donation of used clothes for the affected families of the Naga City landslide, which are unfit to use.
“We apologize but due to the continuing disaster response operations in various areas, our personnel is very limited and we want to focus on other important tasks instead of just sorting out what is usable and not usable for the evacuees,” Sec. Orogo added.
Furthermore, the DSWD Field Office (FO) VII relayed that they encourage donation such as hygiene kit, milk, school supplies, blankets, mats, pillows, children diapers, new sets of clothes and adult undergarments, eco-bags, and big plastic boxes because these are what the evacuees need at present.
Meanwhile, the Naga City government activated a Centralized Distribution System (CDS) to ensure a more organized process of relief distribution and acceptance of donation from possible donors.
Those who would want to donate or host free meals for evacuees may coordinate with the Naga City Hall donation’s desk for scheduling and other related concerns.
Increase of evacuees
Following the forced evacuation of residents living in the one kilometer fall back from the danger zone area, additional evacuation centers were opened by the Naga City local government to accommodate more residents.
To date, the DSWD is assisting 1,665 families or 7,381 individuals affected by the landslide, of which, 1,597 families or 7,113 individuals are staying in 11 evacuation centers in the five affected barangays while the rest are staying with relatives or friends.
Staff members from the DSWD-FO VII are now on 24-hour duty to lead in the camp coordination and camp management of evacuation centers in coordination with the local government and Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) of Cebu.
Social workers are also assisting in the conduct of other services organized by concerned agencies, schools, and non-government organization-partners such as hand washing activity, story-telling and role -playing for children, psychosocial debriefing, medical missions, and film viewing of Sinulog movie entries.
To date, DSWD has already extended relief support and financial assistance worth ₱4,123,825.44 to the affected families. ###
