La Trinidad, Benguet (14 November) -- The World Food Programme(WFP) delivered last week 300 tons of relief goods for typhoon victims in the Cordillera as a continuing relief assistance.

Bernard Kerblat, Senior Logistics officer, WFP Philippines in an emergency meeting of the Cordillera Regional Disaster Coordinating Council last week, said relief goods would be delivered in WFP mobile ware houses set up at the Laoag Airport, Wallace Airbase in Poro Point, La Union and at the Loakan airport to temporarily store supplies while awaiting transport to areas needing relief assistance.

Kerblat explained that Laoag is the drop off point for supplies for affected families in Apayao,Kalinga and Abra since it is nearer the said areas and transport would be faster. Mobile warehouses in Wallace airbase and Loakan are for supplies for Benguet and Mt. Province.

The WFP has earlier donated 5,739.5 cavans of rice with monetized value of P5,237,293.75 broken down to 1,048 cavans for Abra, 942 for Apayao, 2,312.50 for Benguet, 827 for Kalinga and 610 for Mt. Province. These were distributed thru the Department of Social Welfare and Development(DSWD).

Based on the records of the DSWD, there are 89,957 families or 34 percent of the total families in the region affected by typhoon Pepeng. All have been served by the local government units, agencies and partners, however, there are still 17,902 families needing continuing relief assistance(CRA).

Janet Armas, Chief of the Operations Division of DSWD-CAR said these families suffered damages to livelihood, houses and fields due to landslides, erosions and flashflood. Some barangays in Apayao, Benguet and Kalinga remain inaccessible to date due to damaged roads and bridges.

According to Armas, Benguet has the most number of families in need with6,630 spread out in all its 13 towns. Mankayan listed 1,196 needing CRA closely followed by Buguias with 1,180 families.

Apayao has 5,555 families in need broken down to 2,025 in Calanasan, 1,295 in Kabugao, 1,075 in Pudtol, 770 in Luna, and d Sta. Marcela,50. In Kalinga, the 4,127 families are concentrated in Tabuk and Rizal.

All the 1,431 families in need of CRA in Mt. Province are located in Tadian while the 159 families in Abra are all in the municipality of Malibcong.

Aside from food and non-food items, other needs of these families identified by DSWD include livelihood assistance program, food for work, and financial/emergency shelter assistance. Continuous debriefing is also being pursued in Baguio, Benguet and Mt. Province where there were many casualties.

Armas said they have informed the WFP about the prevailing situations, and it immediately responded with these tons of relief goods.

According to Kerblat, he is impressed by the amount of work put together by the various agencies and government units in the relief operations, but there is still a lot to be done in getting the affected people back to their normal lives. He said the WFP is here to help in any way it can.

The WFP is the food aid organization of the United Nations which provides food needs during emergencies and development. It provides food for victims of natural and man-made disasters, as well as food for work on development projects.