BY SAMMY JULIAN
MUCH have been said and written about local and international donors who have risen up to the occasion and contributed their own humanitarian support to those who were severely devastated by the onslaught of super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).
Not much praise, however, have been heaped on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) – the “glue” that held together the massive donations that came the Philippines’ way shortly after the killer typhoon wreaked havoc this side of the planet and affected 44 of our 81 provinces.
Thousands of Filipinos lost their lives, and so many more lost their homes and literally everything they owned, and industries grinded to a halt.
“Yolanda”, after all, was unprecedented in scale. Nobody had seen anything like it. The storm swept away some of the first responders, along with many of the relief goods that the both the local and national governments prepositioned, not to mention some of the equipment needed to conduct rescue and relief operations.
Nevertheless, officials, personnel and volunteers of DSWD worked “double overtime” to ensure the delivery of relief goods to Western Visayas, in particular (as we can only speak solidly about what we have seen with our own eyes where else but in our own community).
We acknowledge the colossal scale of the devastation in the Visayas region, but we also note that the DSWD was quick to coordinate efforts from different relief and recovery organizations. They were able to coordinate all efforts coming from here and abroad.
Because of the unrelenting hard work of the people in the department, the government’s rehabilitation and recovery efforts proceeded faster than expected. This despite the absence of a final master plan for rehabilitation, which was still being fine-tuned at that time by concerned agencies.
Truly, were it not for the work and the sacrifice of dedicated public servants at DSWD, the people and the international community, the disastrous effects of the typhoon would have been far worse.
Their work allowed all those affected to get back on the road to recovery as soon as possible. It allowed the government to build back better earlier than what was expected even by those in the international community who have vast experience in disaster rehabilitation efforts.
We pay tribute to the efforts of DSWD. They deserve it./PN
