The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office 02 has now started the distribution of the Emergency Shelter Assistance (ESA) to some 2,879 affected families in Batanes whose homes were totally or partially damaged a month since Typhoon Ferdie struck the said province.

ESA is the provision of emergency “self-build” shelter assistance through limited financial assistance in order to augment the resources of families affected by disasters. In particular, it enables them to purchase shelter materials required in constructing or repairing their damaged houses as a result of disasters.

The said  ESA amounts to P40,010,000.

Under the ESA, families whose houses were partially damaged are given P10,000 while those families with  totally damaged or were rendered unsafe to live in  are provided with P30,000.

Likewise,  the Cash-for-Work (CFW) Program in the said province will be launched with the aim to   help the  affected families rebuild their damaged houses. The CFW involves community works covering 4,549 affected families with a funding of P15,352,875.00. ### By: Gela Flor R. Perez, Regional Information Officer II