MANILA – The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) on Monday night assured that communities affected by Mayon Volcano’s ongoing unrest, which has affected 9, 876 families or 38, 396 persons, would continue to receive assistance from the national government.

Mayon Volcano is still under Alert Level 3 with an increased tendency towards hazardous eruption.

“The national government continues to carry out response operations activities as we monitor the situation in Bicol relative to Mayon’s unrest to ensure that all needed assistance is provided to the affected communities. Various government agencies including us, at the OCD are working together on this,” OCD administrator Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno said in a statement.

Nepomuceno, also the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director, said the OCD has visited and inspected warehouses and evacuation centers, deployed assets for cargo delivery and water filtration equipment, facilitated transportation of relief goods and provided PHP25 million worth of food and non-food items (FNFIs) to affected residents.

He added that sanitation services are also being provided in the evacuation centers.

Nepomuceno also noted that the total cost of logistical support provided by OCD with assistance from the Department of Health has amounted to PHP67 million.

“On the part of OCD, we’ve been providing various support to assist our regional counterpart and the affected LGUs (local government units) Other NDRRMC member agencies are also doing the same,” Nepomuceno said.

The combined assistance provided by various agencies as of Sept. 18 is now placed at PHP437 million.

He added that the Department of Social Welfare and Development and OCD have a total of PHP2.3 billion standby funds and cost of prepositioned relief stockpiles. (PNA)