Tacloban City tent fire victims get aid

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is now giving medical assistance to the victims of the fire that broke inside the Tent City in Barangay 88, Tacloban City.

DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman said the agency will shoulder the medical expenses and other needs of seven-year-old John Mark Reynan Ocenar, who sustained burns during the fire.

The burial expenses of Ocenar's mother and his five siblings will be shouldered by the local government, Soliman said.

John Mark is now being treated at the Eastern Visayas Medical Center. He is being looked after by his father and cousins.

The boy's mother, Maria Elisa, 39, and his five siblings died in the fire, which was caused by a kerosene lamp.