LEYTE - February 21, Increasing Signs of Life

Increasing signs of life. This is the main motivation among NGOs and government officials to continue with its search and rescue operations. International donors for rescue, relief and rehabilitation are strongly increasing. A coordination meeting was organized among all present NGOs, where TSF/ADPC was established as the information and communication hub of NGOs. Information sharing among local and international NGOs promoted a more focused effort to rehabilitate the affected community.

A situation update by NDCC on late evening, Feb 20, Co-chaired by: Dir. Dr. A. Golez of Office of Civil Defense and Dr. Puji Pujiono, UNDAC Team Leader; identified that the Philippine mining department has deployed 5 geologists to assess the site and the surrounding areas to identify risks an safe areas for evacuation and / or relocation.

FOOD (1 pack/household every 3 day)

• Food Requirement (inside evacuation centers): including contingency of 100% increase of people being evacuated: 900 families x 3 distribution = 2,700 Packs
• Households outside of evacuation centers: 3,000 households x 3 distributions= 9,000 packs
• Food for rescuers and volunteers (expressed in monetized term): PhP 100/day for 200 rescuers = 200,000.00/day x 10 days = PhP 2M

CLEAN WATER (7.5 L / pax/day including 3L of drinking water) from all sources of safe water including wells, streams, piped, and trucked clean water

• Clean water requirement (inside evacuation centers): including contingency of 100% increase of people being evacuated: 3,500 persons x 7.5 L x 10 days = 262,500 L
• Persons outside of evacuation centers (assumed 30% needs clean water): 50% of 15,000 pax x 7.5 L x 10 days = 33.750 L
• Water for rescuers and volunteers (double amount): 1,500 persons x 15 L x 10 days = 225,000 L

SHELTER

All evacuees are accommodated up to this date. It is projected that additional 300 families will be displaced within the next 10 days. Department of Interior and Local Government will identify potential sites and to report to NDCC meeting.

HEALTH

• Communicable diseases surveillance: 2 persons
• Public health: 10 doctors
• Three health services outposts for outpatient, vaccination and
• Two District Hospitals functional - Anahawan District Hospital (15 km from impact site) and Sogod District Hospital
• St. Bernard Health Unit: functional (10km from impact site) coordination of resources and to house health volunteers

Cases last 24 hours

• 1 case of complete fracture mandible airlifted to Tacloban City for admission at Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center
• 3 patients ongoing debridement due to avulsion in lower extremities by Surgeons

To address the issues concern, a public health operation center was tasked to organize the evacuation centers and medical needs of the affected people. As of now, the operation team for this center is doing its best to identify bottlenecks for information dissemination and additional evacuation centers to decongest the occupancies. Sanitation, proper and socio-psychological issues-related to the disaster are main concerns of the team leaders. Late this afternoon, a meeting with the governor and high-ranking officials had a meeting to address the mentioned concerns and how to organize a more efficient rehabilitation plan for the community.

The president of the Philippines is planned to visit the site on Feb 22 to assess the situation. Continuing efforts for search and rescue is still continuing despite of scattered rain showers. Experts from around the world are sharing their technical inputs for better technology and procedures.