Tacloban City, Leyte – To ensure that relief distribution will continue in areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda, there will be no holiday break for some Field Offices and personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“Our staff will be on rotational duty so that relief distribution will not be interrupted,” DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said.

Likewise, to hasten the relief operations, DSWD has recently opened two relief hubs in Isabel, Leyte and Catbalogan, Samar for storage and repacking of relief commodities.

To date, DSWD is now on its 10th round of relief distribution in the 60 municipalities and three cities in Eastern Visayas.

As of December 16, a total of 3,321,351 rice and food packs, 494,213 liters of water, 109,601 pieces of canned goods, and 244,444 pieces of high energy biscuits have already been distributed to the 273,782 displaced families in the region.

Non-food items such as tents, hygiene kits, blankets, mosquito nets, mats,  towels, cooking pots, water containers, slippers, and plastic cups, among others were also given out.

Meanwhile, Sec. Soliman briefed international humanitarian organizations about the ongoing relief operations in the region during a site visit last week.

International development partners present were Swiss Ambassador Ivo Sieber, Canadian Ambassador Neil Reeder, Australian Agency for International Development Counsellor Robyn Hill, United Kingdom Embassy Deputy Head of Mission Trevor Lewis, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Philippines Deputy Head Markus Werne, and Spanish Agency for International Development Corporation Coordinator Vicente Zaragosa.#