Nine people have died and a whole bunch have been sickened by diarrhea in areas of the Philippines devastated by a typhoon last month, and aid officials are warning of a health crisis as hundreds of thousands of individuals struggle to supply clean water and food.
Three weeks after Typhoon Rai hit the southern and central islands, destroying 1000’s of homes and killing over 400 people, humanitarian aid operations for stranded and homeless residents proceed.
Nine people have died from dehydration attributable to diarrhea on the impoverished Dinagat Islands and the neighboring resort island of Siargao, known for its browsing spots, the regional office of the Philippine health department said.
A complete of 895 cases have been reported there for the reason that typhoon hit, mostly amongst homeless people as the federal government and aid agencies rush to construct emergency water treatment plants, said department spokesman Ernesto Pareja.
“It’s hard to say it’s under control. Water supplies remain irregular. Their food needs have not been met,” Pareja said.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned of a “growing health crisis” in typhoon-affected areas because the disaster response scales up.
“It is extremely disturbing that people are becoming very sick and even dying in the areas devastated by the typhoon,” Alberto Bocanegra, head of the IFRC Philippine delegation, said in an announcement on Thursday.
The typhoon deprived “hundreds of thousands of individuals of access to wash drinking water, hospitals and health care facilities,” Bocanegra added.
According to the most recent data from the Philippine Civil Defense Bureau, a complete of 402 people died within the typhoon, greater than 1,200 were injured, 78 are still missing and at the very least 370,000 are still in evacuation centers.
If we don’t act now and supply affected families with much-needed food assistance, we risk a pointy increase in preventable malnutrition.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said the federal government’s storm preparations and early response were “commendable” but warned that more support was needed.
“If we do not take immediate action and provide affected families with much-needed food assistance, we risk a sharp increase in preventable malnutrition,” said WFP Country Director and Representative Brenda Barton.
Pareja urged donors and aid agencies to proceed their work.
“We wish all our partners to not stop the flow of aid. The situation stays unstable,” Pareja said.
Survivors compared the storm to Super Typhoon Haiyan, which left 7,300 people dead or missing within the central Philippines in 2013, remaining the deadliest within the country’s history.
Local health officials are also monitoring respiratory infections after at the very least two cases turned out to be Covid-19.
