Mental health problems emerging in Yolanda-hit areas

MANILA, Philippines - Six months after Super Typhoon Yolanda struck, mental health problems are emerging in affected communities, with more than 84,000 babies born and 70,000 more expected to be delivered in the next three months.

World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative Julie Hall said the health agency is seeing the emergence of mental health problems in communities with people beginning to come to terms with the enormity of their loss, whether of loved ones, homes or livelihood.

For this reason, health workers are now being trained to provide mental health care services to typhoon victims.

“The WHO has been training local health workers in psychological first aid and community-based mental health care to help address physical and mental health needs,” Hall said.

Citing records of the Department of Health, the WHO also reported that more than 84,000 babies were born in Yolanda-hit areas in the past six months. There are 220,000 pregnant women and 147,000 breastfeeding mothers in these calamity-stricken communities.

Hall said that 70,000 babies are expected to be born in affected areas in the next three months and WHO needs clean and safe facilities for them and for those individuals who have ongoing health complications from diseases such as diabetes, cancer and tuberculosis.

“Six months on, we have made real progress. But the resilience of the Filipino spirit alone will not be enough. Ensuring the resilience of the health infrastructure, universal health care for all Filipinos and continued investments in health prevention are all required,” she said.

The Philippines “needs a healthy population to sustain its successful economic development,” she added.

Alice Ruth Foxwell, WHO-Philippines team leader for Alert, Control and Eradicate Disease, maintained that the destruction left by Yolanda could be an “opportunity to build back better” with resilience the health system.

Residents refuse to occupy bunkhouses

However, some residents in Leyte, one of the most affected provinces, refuse to move into the bunkhouses in sites determined by the government.

The housing site in Barangay Tacuranga has 20 units of bunkhouses and has toilets and kitchen facilities. A unit has 12 to 24 rooms each measuring at least 8.64 square meters. The construction of temporary shelters is a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways and involved 10 contractors.

Danilo Fabella, his wife Enrile and 10 of their 14 children moved five days ago to the housing site in Barangay Tacuranga, about three kilometers from Barangay San Joaquin where they used to live.

But big families like the Fabellas have to make do with the crowded rooms, which are also sweltering at times because occupants are not allowed to bring in electric fans.

“Parang sardinas (We’re packed like sardines),” Danilo said.

Interestingly, more than half of the rooms of temporary shelters in Barangay Tacuranga remain unoccupied.

Based on estimates by the local police, only 52 families are living in the bunkhouses. This means that about 400 rooms in the housing site remain vacant.

Enrile said some of their former neighbors refused to move to the bunk houses because they do not want to abandon their livelihood sources.

“Maybe they do not want to adjust to a new environment,” she added.

This was confirmed by Ermalyn Petilla, village chief of Barangay Tacuranga.

“They think the relocation site is far from their livelihood source,” she said in Filipino.

Petilla said the Yolanda survivors would stay in the bunkhouses until the construction of their permanent resettlement in Barangay Barayong is completed.

The situation in Barangay Tacuranga in Palo was in contrast to that of Tacloban City, which is struggling to find temporary settlements for affected residents.

Officials of the Tacloban City government earlier said almost 30,000 persons are still in danger zones or still residing in tents or temporary shelters.

About 3,000 families in the city are staying in makeshift homes, 770 others are living in tents along seashores, and 500 more are in evacuation centers and schools.

Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez said at least P1.22 billion is urgently needed to bankroll the housing requirements of affected residents. – With Alexis Romero