The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said on Wednesday it is ready for the impact of non-stop rains with the prepositioning of 32,069 family food packs (FFPs) for families badly affected by weather disturbances.

DSWD Eastern Visayas regional information officer Jonalyndie Chua said they have been beefing up their stocks since last month when the shear line triggered flooding in some areas during the Christmas holidays.

“DSWD is always ready to respond. We have been monitoring the situation and coordinating with affected local government units,” Chua told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

The stock of food supplies worth PHP21.52 million will ensure faster delivery of relief goods in case of severe flooding and other disasters, she said.

These FFPs are stored in warehouses in Allen and Biri towns in Northern Samar; Jipapad, Taft, and Guiuan in Eastern Samar; DSWD regional resource operations center in Palo, Leyte and Sogod, Southern Leyte.

Other stockpiled are in Almagro and Santo Niño in Samar; and Naval, Maripipi and Kawayan in Biliran province.

Each FFP contains six kilos of rice, four cans of corned beef, four cans of tuna flakes, two cans of sardines, five sachets of coffee and five sachets of cereal drinks.

The DSWD has also prepared 11,237 non-food items worth PHP20.64 million and a standby fund of PHP10.02 million.

Since last week, the state weather bureau has been issuing flood advisories for Eastern Visayas as low press area and northeast monsoon dumped heavy rains.

On Wednesday, an orange rainfall warning has been raised in the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, Eastern Samar, and Samar provinces. The province of Southern Leyte is under red rainfall warning.

A red rainfall advisory is issued when observed rainfall is eight gallons per square meter per hour. The orange rainfall advisory is raised in areas where rainfall is four to eight gallons per square meter in an hour.

Meanwhile, the DSWD also released 12,590 FFPs to families in Eastern Samar province affected by shear line during the holidays in December.

Recipient families were from the towns of Arteche, Guiuan, Jipapad, Llorente, Mercedes, Oras, Quinapondan, Sulat and Taft.

Under the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, the local governments are the first responders and the DSWD is tasked to augment the response efforts after disasters. (PNA)