3rd Batch of Bicol humanitarian team off to Eastern Samar

Newsdig update from Cbanga360.net

There is the continuous dispatch of relief teams from Bicol to typhoon-stricken areas of Eastern Visayas region. On Thursday, the third humanitarian group left from Legazpi destined to the province of Eastern Samar.

The mission from Team Albay-Office of Civil Defense Bicol, composed of 63 members, left in the afternoon with 60 tons of relief goods for typhoon “Yolanda” survivors.

Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro, OCD Bicol director, said the third salvo of humanitarian mission is a composite team of personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, OCD and the provincial government of Albay.

The team will personally distribute relief goods and feed the children as soon as it arrives in the devastated areas of eastern Samar.

The search and rescue sub-team and medical component of Team Albay-OCD Bicol will pull out of Tacloban City this weekend after almost two weeks of operations, Alejandro said.

“But the water and sanitation component will transfer to eastern Samar for another one-week mission to provide safe and clean water to affected communities in that area,” he said.

The Team Albay-OCD Bicol is the first group of disaster responders that has provided aid to Tacloban City and other hard hit areas in western Visayas for three weeks now.

Aside from humanitarian mission, Albay, through the provincial government led by governor Joey Salceda, will also adopt 2,000 internally displaced families or 10,000 persons for 12 months or until after their new houses are built.

Albay, in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development and OCD-Bicol, will also assist 2,000 families or 10,000 people in the newly constructed Japan-standard evacuation centers of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Monitoring Office in Barangay Gogon in Legazpi City and the towns of Polangui, Libon, Oas, Sto. Domingo and Manito as well as the evacuation camps provided by the Spanish government through the Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarollo.

Bicolanos from all walks of life have been lending hand to Yolanda victims even though some parts of the Bicol region have been affected by the deadly typhoon about two weeks ago but the solidarity of the Bicolanos through “Team Bicol” is outpouring to help rebuild the devastated region of Eastern Visayas.

Aside from Team Albay-OCD Bicol, another group called “Team Bicol” led by Bicolano billionaire and philanthropist Elizaldy “Zaldy” S. Co, chief executive officer of the Sunwest Group Holding Company Inc., sent off relief goods, 11 dump trucks, one boom truck and a tanker loaded with fuel to be used for clearing operations in Palo, Leyte.

Co pioneered the “Tarabangan Tugang” (Helping Bothers” in 2006 after the occurrence of catastrophic typhoon “Reming.”

His firm also sent off a humanitarian team composed of electricians, mechanics and cooks from Sunwest Construction and Development Corp. and Misibis Bay, both affiliates of SGHCI, including volunteers from other private companies in Legazpi city, in partnership with the city government to extend assistance in hard hit areas of Visayan region.

The group augmented the first team of volunteers wich arrived in Leyte about two weeks ago.

With this, more and more Albayanos are opening their houses to adopt homeless families.

The Diocese of Legazpi led by Bishop Joel Baylon also asked the Bicolanos to act as foster families to IDPs left homeless by deadly typhoon Yolanda.

Baylon made the appeal during the play of the life of Saint Pedro Calungsod at Ibalong Central Recreation last Satruday.

The proceeds of the musical were originally intended for the repair of the Albay Cathedral but with the devastation in the Visayas, the diocese announced that funds that will be raised will go to Yolanda victims instead.

The bishop emphasized his appeal to help by providing foster homes for these affected families. (PNA report by Rhaydz B. Barcia)

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