ARMM-HEART intensify aid to Lanao Sur IDPs

COTABATO CITY- The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) government through its Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (HEART) provided on Wednesday relief assistance to around 2,000 families displaced by a military operation against a local rebel group in Butig town, Lanao del Sur.ARMM Vice-Governor Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman said residents who have fled the fighting are taking temporary shelter at different evacuation centers in the towns of Lumbanayage, Masiu, and in Marawi City.He said that although there has been no civilian casualty reported, close to 2,000 families have been displaced with most of them coming from the six barangays in the municipality which include Barangay Bayabao, Poktan, Ragaya, Kuluyan, Samer and Sandag.He said the ARMM government saw the need to provide humanitarian aid to the affected families considering their hardship.Lucman headed Wednesday’s humanitarian and relief operation that included the distribution of food packs and medicines and conduct of free medical services.He said the region’s health department will also be closely monitoring the general health and sanitary conditions in the evacuation centers.He said the evacuees still fear returning to their homes even if the fighting has already subsided. The ARMM is ready to provide the necessary humanitarian intervention in the face of this conflict,” he said.