LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The provincial government of Pangasinan has extended food and nonfood relief aid to displaced residents of Batangas province due to the eruption of the Taal Volcano.
In an interview Thursday, January 16 Pangasinan provincial information officer Orpheus Velasco said the 12 vehicles of the provincial government left Wednesday evening to bring the relief goods to the province.
The team from Pangasinan, led by Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office chief Rhodyn Lunchinvar Oro, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office chief Emil Samson, and former fifth district Board Member Clemente Arboleda, arrived in Batangas on Thursday.
Velasco said the food relief assistance includes 100 sacks of rice, 20,000 canned goods, 3,470 family food packs, and 1,225 bottled waters.
Non-food items are bath soap, toothbrush, alcohol, face towel, tissues, shampoo, hygiene kits, soap powder, and blankets, he added.
Meanwhile, the local government unit (LGU) of Lingayen town has started collecting donations from the residents for the victims of the Taal Volcano eruption.
“This is a voluntary donation to which we encourage our constituents. This weekend, we arrange the transfer of the first batch of donations to the affected residents in Batangas,” Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil said in a separate interview Thursday.
The Lingayen LGU urged residents to donate nebulizers, N95 face masks, asthma medicines, canned goods or foods in tetra packs, clothes, blanket, and bottled water.
As of Wednesday, January 15, 121,000 Batangas residents are sheltered in 232 evacuation centers.(PNA)