A total of 12,392 families who were severely impacted by Typhoon Odette, which devastated the area in 2021, received PHP10,000 in emergency shelter assistance (ESA) from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) regional office.
According to Jonalyndie Chua, the information officer for DSWD 8 (Eastern Visayas), households have received about PHP123.92 million.
Of the 12,392 households, 541 came from Inopacan, 947 from Hindang, 1,135 from Matalom, and 283 from Mahaplag and Javier, all of which are located in the province of Leyte.
While 940 families in Macrohon, 2,315 in Maasin, 1,301 in Limasawa, 526 in Hinundayan, 1,025 in Pintuyan, 986 in Libagon, 1,093 in San Francisco, 1,116 in San Ricardo, and 184 in Silago were recipients in the province of Southern Leyte.
Moreover, Chua said that shelter help is still being distributed to other places that were affected by the severe typhoon.
Since it is based on the restoration and recovery plan created by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) through a series of assessment and consultation activities, the official acknowledged that the process of distributing the assistance requires a lot of time.
The plan's writing was finished by NEDA in the first quarter of 2022.
Before sending the proposed budget to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), local government approval and review by the National and Regional Disaster Reduction Councils are also required.
As long as their names are given by city or municipal governments, the official gave the assurance that all severely impacted families would receive the help.
According to Chua, recipient families are in charge of deciding how to use the shelter assistance.
In total, 185,529 homes have been damaged, including 52,150 that were completely destroyed on December 16, 2021, when Typhoon Odette passed through the area.
Most of the destroyed homes were in coastal locations and were made of lightweight materials.
According to NEDA, the majority of the partially damaged homes were constructed of heavy materials yet were nevertheless completely devastated by the typhoon's high-intensity winds.
Meanwhile, the DSWD program called ESA helps disaster-affected families that have homes with damage by giving financial support to aid in their recovery, especially for the renovation and rebuilding of their typhoon-damaged homes.
