NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — It is the children suffering most from the brunt of earthquakes that jolted Kidapawan City and nearby towns in North Cotabato.
Health workers are scrambling to provide children with medical interventions to prevent the spread of contagious diseases in evacuation sites.
Thousands of evacuees do not have access to clean water and restrooms.
A big number of children and elderly people were badly affected by strong episodes of earthquakes that jolted their villages in North Cotabato’s Makilala, Tulunan and Mlang towns and in the provincial capital, Kidapawan City, on October 16, followed by no fewer than 2,000 aftershocks since.
Engineers of the Metro Kidapawan Water District, or MKWD, are trying their best to restore sections of water conduits connecting villages in Kidapawan City to a hinterland spring that were damaged by earthquakes.
The constraint made more difficult the situation of tremor-stricken residents now cramped in squalid evacuation sites.
Relief support for evacuees keep coming in, but the need for clean water and tarpaulins for tents are still main concerns local government units are trying to address.
Personnel of the Police Regional Office-12 are still out helping relief workers attend to the needs of evacuees.
More than 30 private organizations, including radio networks brought in food and other relief provisions to tremor-stricken areas in separate outreach missions the past three days.
Kidapawan City Mayor Joseph Evangelista said he is optimistic that the MKWD can soon restore the supply of water to all barangays under his jurisdiction.