Pope to faithful: Pray for dear Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Pope Francis has appealed to the world to pray for the victims of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that rocked Central Visayas last week and claimed the lives of at least 186 people.

CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, reported that the pope made the appeal after the Angelus last Sunday.

“I want to express my closeness to the people of the Philippines who have been struck by a strong earthquake, and I invite you to pray for that dear nation, which in recent days has suffered different calamities,” Francis said.

Prior to the earthquake, typhoons also flooded several provinces in Luzon.

Last Friday, the pontiff called on Filipinos and other Asian Catholics to have mercy for the poor and the oppressed.

“Don’t get tired of bringing the mercy of the Father to the poor, the sick, the abandoned, the young people, and the family,” he said in his video message for the Philippine Conference on New Evangelization at the University of Santo Tomas.

Death toll climbs to 186

The Bohol Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) yesterday reported another fatality from the powerful quake that struck Central Visayas last Oct. 15.

The death toll has risen to 186 – 173 from Bohol, 12 from Cebu and one from Siquijor.

 Eleven more people are missing, authorities said, although the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) had said they have shifted from search and rescue to retrieval operations.

Residents lined up along the highway in barangay Libertad, Tubigon town to attract the attention of trucks carrying relief goods.

“We need food, water and medicine,” residents wrote on their placards.

Tootsie Escobia, spokesman of the Bohol provincial government, said that while it is still difficult to deliver relief goods, distribution of assistance to affected residents is now in full swing.

Escobia added that scores of volunteers have come forward to help in the distribution of relief supplies to far-flung communities.

P2.2-B infra damage

The earthquake’s damage to private and government infrastructure, including roads and bridges, centuries-old churches, residential houses, hospitals, schools, and government and private buildings is now estimated at P2.2 billion.

Escobia said the provincial government has adopted a united stand in seeking assistance from the national government to hasten the rehabilitation of the province.

Disease outbreak possible

The threat of a serious disease outbreak in earthquake-hit Bohol is increasing each day as thousands of displaced people are forced to live in the streets in unsanitary conditions, an official of an international humanitarian group said yesterday.

Justin Morgan, country director of Oxfam, said a shortage of working toilets and safe drinking water has already contributed to above normal cases of diarrhea in some communities.

“Our concern is that unless people start getting access to toilets on a longer term basis, these types of things are quite hazardous,” Morgan told The STAR in a phone interview.

Morgan, who visited Sagbayan and San Isidro towns in Bohol over the weekend, said many residents were using restaurant toilets or relieving themselves in public.

“If we start to see rain, the issues about the open defecation and also the amount of garbage that’s starting to build up, it will become an increasing health hazard,” Morgan said.

“If there isn’t a response, the risk of more waterborne diseases is likely to increase as is the case in all such situations like this. If they haven’t got access to water and sanitation facilities, then the risk is increasing,” he added.

Morgan said Sagbayan and neighboring areas were most affected by the quake with the greatest number of people living without adequate safe drinking water and sanitation facilities.

He also raised concerns about the possible spread of dengue fever, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes.

“It is dengue season at the moment and we’re leading into it with more and more people living outside their houses. Staying outside their risk is significantly increased,” Morgan said.

He lauded the government’s response to the disaster so far but said temporary shelters, water and sanitation need to be prioritized ahead of long-term solutions.

Morgan also cited the need to ensure that affected residents would get their sources of livelihood back.

Latest data from the NDRRMC showed that more than 380,000 persons have been displaced by the earthquake.

Morgan said every time an aftershock hits, “a significant amount of fear runs through the population.”

“So people are moving outside extremely quickly and you can see the fear,” he said. “Every time a tremor happens, it’s a reminder.”

Power has been restored in most areas, but water is still not running throughout and there has been minimal assessment of the damage to water infrastructure, Morgan said.

He recommended the conduct of tests on all water systems to ensure that contaminated water is not distributed.

‘Everything under control’

President Aquino admitted yesterday that the government did not anticipate the influx of people in evacuation centers due to the fear of residents to go back to their houses in Bohol and Cebu after the magnitude 7.2 earthquake and its aftershocks.

Aquino addressed criticisms that government officials were slow in reaching out to some areas that were isolated due to devastation of bridges and other infrastructure and said he “was given the reassurance that there is no community that is not being taken care of.”

He said some upland communities could not establish contact immediately to report whatever they needed due to lack of communication facilities.

Speaking to reporters following his attendance to the 12th CEO Forum and 114th general membership meeting of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI) in Parañaque City, Aquino said he sent Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman and other officials to Bohol last week to monitor developments.

Aquino said 113,000 food packs had been distributed and the government was ready to provide for the evacuees for at least two weeks.

“First of all, there are about 30,000 houses damaged…The 30,000 houses translate to 30,000 families. The food packs are at a hundred thousand. A food pack is defined as enough to feed a family of five for three days as I remember it. So there are more food packs than there are supposed to be directly affected families,” Aquino said.

“Now, having said that, what is the additional concern? There are aftershocks,” he said.

In fact, the President said officials meeting at the provincial capitol felt severe shock and “a lot of residents are nervous” to return to their houses because of the aftershocks, regardless of whether their houses were damaged or not. - With Jaime Laude, Jonathan Carson, Aurea Calica