After three days of intensive assessments, planning and collaboration meetings with government agencies and community leaders, World Vision is set to carry out today the first leg of distribution relief goods to 600 sponsored families in three villages in Iloilo City.

“World Vision will provide immediate assistance of food and non-food items to the worst affected, especially the families of our sponsored children and beneficiaries of our special projects on tuberculosis and child labor,” said Efren Damas, WV assessment team leader in Iloilo City.

The first three villages that will receive relief assistance are Cubay, Bakhaw and Sto. Nino Norte, all areas where World Vision has projects.

World Vision is targeting 8,000 families severely affected by Typhoon Frank in 13 villages in the city and 5 villages in the town of Estancia, in the northern part of the province of Iloilo.

Some 2,000 children are sponsored by World Vision in Iloilo through World Vision Canada.

The emergency kits include food items such as 25 kilos of rice, packets of noodles, sardines, biscuits and cooking oil among other basic goods. Non-food item kits include a mosquito net, blanket, raincoat, thick mat, kerosene lamp, flashlight, batteries, cooking utensils,match, kettle and 5 gallon water container.  

The local government of Estancia has agreed to provide safe drinking water that will be offered along with the 5 gallon water bucket provided by World Vision.  It has also offered two service vehicles free of charge to be used to transport the relief goods to the distribution sites.

The local government of Estancia also helped facilitate the availability of a warehouse that will serve as both the storage and packing site of relief items. It also assisted World Vision in negotiating with the possible suppliers in the province, including the purchase of rice from the National Rice Authority.

The whole province of Iloilo has been recently placed under state of calamity by the Philippine government after it suffered huge losses on life and property in the aftermath of Typhoon Frank.

The government has also declared a disease outbreak of diarrhea and respiratory infection in the whole island of Panay where Iloilo and three other provinces – Antique, Capiz and Aklan – are located.

World Vision relief assessments are still ongoing in the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz and some other provinces in Luzon and Mindanao.  World Vision’s emergency response in Panay Island targets to provide assistance to 25,000 families.