Gender and Protection Cluster in Santo receives assistance from Customs Department

The Gender and Protection Cluster in Santo had received two containers of clothing from the Department of Customs on Tuesday this week. Most of the items donated to the Gender and Protection Cluster were mostly clothing and blankets.

Mr Nickolas Gorden representing the Customs Department in Santo mentioned during the handing over ceremony that the items in both containers were seized by customs for some times so an agreement was made to hand over the two containers as relief items to the affected communities.

“Most of the items in the containers are relief items such as clothing, blankets and others,” he said.

Mr Gorden stated that as Santo is responding to the devastation left by Tropical Cyclone Harold, he hoped that these items will benefit the affected communities around Santo.

The Gender and Protection Cluster will coordinate the distribution of these relief items as agreed by the different stakeholders.

The containers of clothing were handed over to the Director of the Department of Water Resources, Mr Erickson Sammy along with Mrs Gloria Tarileo, the officer in charge from the Department of Women’s Affairs and the Sanma Provincial Disaster Officer Mr Kensly Micah.

Director Sammy expressed his deep appreciation to the Customs Department in Santo for their continuous support to the current response operation. He mentioned that Gender and Protection Cluster have already some assessment data in place to make sure items are distributed fairly amongst those affected.

Mrs Tarileo had also confirmed that volunteers have already been working tirelessly over the last few days to get the first bags ready to be delivered to the affected communities around SANMA province.