The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has already released 206,582 family food packs (FFPs) to Typhoon Odette victims in Eastern Visayas in the past two months.

The PHP120.77 million worth of food assistance have benefitted typhoon victims in the provinces of Southern Leyte, Leyte, and Eastern Samar, said DSWD Eastern Visayas regional director Grace Subong in a phone interview Tuesday.

“We have been producing more food packs since there are still requests from local government units for more assistance. There are areas where we have done the second and third round of distribution,” Subong said in a phone interview.

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 drink, which is enough for a family of five for two to three days.

On February 11, the DSWD central office has sent 5,000 food packs as augmentation for the ongoing relief operations in typhoon-hit areas.

The DSWD released FFPs in Leyte for the towns of Dulag, Hilongos, Hindang, Matalom, Tacloban City, Bato, Inopacan, Javier, Abuyog, and Mahaplag.

In Southern Leyte, recipients are from the towns of Anahawan, Hinunangan, Hinundayan, St. Bernard, San Juan, Silago, Liloan, Pintuyan, San Francisco, San Ricardo, Bontoc, Libagon, Limasawa, Maasin City, Macrohon, Malitbog, Padre Burgos, Sogod, and Tomas Oppus.

The agency also delivered food packs to Mercedes town in Eastern Samar province.

Since typhoon-hit areas are now in the early recovery phase, the DSWD will only send assistance to areas that need most, according to Subong.

The DSWD has been coordinating with other members of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to fast-track the distribution of post-typhoon aid.

On December 16, “Odette” barreled through Caraga and Eastern Visayas regions with maximum sustained winds of 195 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 270 kph.

After hitting Surigao, it made two landfalls in Southern Leyte before devastating Central Visayas. (PNA)