DAVAO CITY, Dec 10 (PIA) More relief assistance arrived from Indonesia and the United States of America as government raced time to continue the search, rescue and retrieval operation and in sending more help to areas affected by Typhoon Pablo.
The Indonesian National Defense Force handed the relief goods and cash assistance to the government 8:00 am Monday at the Davao International Airport.
The delegation was welcomed by Lt. General Jorge Segovia, commander of the Eastern Mindanao Command.
Brian Goldbeck, charge de affaires of the American Embassy also gave away 11:00 am Monday, an initial $100,000-worth of water, sanitation and hygiene support and provision of emergency relief at the tarmac of the Old Davao Airport where his delegation was welcomed by Secretary Lualhati Antonino, chair of the Mindanao Development Authority.
Goldbeck assured of more assistance to the affected areas as the US Agency for International Development continues to assess typhoon affected areas not only in Mindanao but also in Visayas.
He said the US Armed Forces has deployed two of its cargo planes from Okinawa, Japan to assist in the delivery of relief goods from Manila to Davao City.
As of 11:00 am Monday, Liza Mazo, director of the Office of Civil Defense XI reported that the death toll reached to 655 with 552 missing and 1,792 injured in the provinces of Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental and Davao del Norte.
In her report to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, she said that a total of 43,112 families or 198,287 remain in the evacuation centers.
Mazo said blackout still prevails in Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley, while service of telecommunication companies are gradually restored in ComVal but nil in many areas in Davao Oriental.
Earlier, the Malaysian Humanitarian Assistance Mission delivered ten tons of food and non-food items Friday night.
The first international assistance to the typhoon stricken areas in Davao Region arrived from Malaysia on-board a C-130 Hercules cargo plane 7:00 pm Friday at the Tactical Operations Group XI Headquarters at the Davao International Airport.
Lt. General Paklauan Razak, head of the Malaysian delegation handed over three six by six truckloads of goods to Undersecretary Benito Ramos, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council at the reception hall of the 3rd Philippine Air Force Division, witnessed by Lt. General Jorge Segovia, commander of the Eastern Mindanao Command, Liza Mazo, director of the Office of Civil Defense XI, Mila Segovia, assistant regional director for administration of the Department of Social Welfare and Development XI, disaster and consular officers of the Malaysian government and officers of the 10th Infantry Division and Eastern Mindanao Command.
Lt. General Segovia thanked the Malaysian government for the assistance which came at the time when the affected populace needed.
He lauded the Malaysian contingent for initiating the first foreign mission to assist distressed areas in Mindanao since the storm hit the country.
“You came at the right time when we undergo difficult times when many people need help,” Segovia said.
He stressed that only in trying times; the Filipinos tend to know who their real friends are.
Usec Ramos said the gesture of the Malaysian government shows that they are not just our neighbors but our brothers.
He also thanked the Malaysian government for standing pat on international and bilateral agreements on helping a distressed member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, hit by a disaster.
Lt. General Razak said the goods comprise mainly of rice, biscuits, milk powder, blankets and towels.
He said the ten ton-cargo will just be the first shipment of assistance from Malaysia and more good are expected to be sent here until the situation normalizes.
Razak said Malaysia is always ready to help neighboring countries which in need.
Mila Segovia of the DSWD XI said the distribution of the Malaysian assistance will commence this Monday (December 10).
She assured that there is no longer a municipality isolated from government reach.
“Our social workers are already in place in every distress municipality to assist in the distribution of assistance,” Segovia said. (PIA XI- Joey Sem G. Dalumpines)
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