270-VEHICLE MERCY MISSION

15 December 2006

Worst-hit Albay, Camarines Sur get lion share

LEGAZPI CITY—After disaster reports affirmed Albay and Camarines Sur had been the worst-hit by supertyphoon “Reming,” social welfare officials here said the two provinces would receive 70 percent of the P200-million relief assistance that arrived here in Bicol yesterday in a 270-vehicle Mercy Mission Caravan.

Evelyn Jerusalem, public information officer of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Bicol, said the agency was now ensuring the immediate release of the relief assistance to the intended recipients.

The DSWD has recorded 2.6 million persons or 506,869 families in 2,135 villages in Bicol that had been affected by the hazards of Reming, over a million of which came from Albay, which was badly-hit by lahar from Mayon volcano.

Jerusalem said the caravan carried truckloads of food items like canned goods; milk for children; sack of rice; medicines; distilled water and nonfood items like, clothing; mattresses; tents; water tankers; kitchenware; toiletries; heavy equipment for the clearing and rehabilitation efforts, and construction materials, primarily wood, for the rebuilding of destroyed houses.

The mounted relief assistance for the Palace-initiated Mercy Mission was from various local government units of other regions, government agencies, and private corporations.

Also brought in the caravan were 20 “Tindahan Natin” rolling stores which offered basic commodities like rice at lower prices more affordable to typhoon victims.

Jerusalem said the arrival of the relief caravan was the first of its kind she had ever seen during a disaster.

“The Mercy Mission was a timely answer to our needs here in Bicol. Our resources had started to deplete. The influx of relief assistance this time is differently overwhelming,” she said. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon