The combined forces of a low-pressure area and the shear line, brought incessant rains and fatal floods, and caused humanitarian emergencies in Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. In addition to intense rescue operations and other humanitarian assistance, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) scaled up its food assistance and served hot meals to 8, 434 flood victims in eight hard-hit provinces and municipalities from January 1 to 20: Misamis Occidental – Oroqueita City, Misamis Oriental – Gingoog City, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Lapu-Lapu City, Zamboanga City, Sulu-Jolo, and Northern Samar.
The immediate aftermath of any disaster is disruption of access to food. Displaced families are unable to prepare their food. This threatens the health, nutrition, and well-being of affected communities. The PRC food trucks, provide hot meals within 24 hours of a disaster, seek to address the limited food supply in affected areas.
“Displacement has disrupted the food supply of our kababayans in Visayas, Mindanao, and some parts of Palawan. Our volunteers are mobilized and our food trucks are immediately deployed in affected areas to serve hot meals to affected people, especially children,” Chairman and CEO Richard J. Gordon said.
From January 01 to 20, the PRC Chapters in the affected areas alongside their Welfare teams dispatched four food trucks and served hot meals in the forms of rice, chicken, vegetables, egg, pansit, Arroz caldo, and champorado to displaced children and adults.
PRC likewise prepared its rescue equipment and provided the following additional humanitarian aid to communities affected by shear line-induced rains: 421, 900 liters of clean water, children activities, psychological first aid sessions to 1, 940 individuals, 645 medicines against Leptospirosis, hygiene kits to 464 families, sleeping kits to 612 families, jerry cans to 524 families, and kitchen sets to 546 families.
