ILOCOS VICTIMS APPEALS FOR HELP
An elderly woman with her grandson recieved relief goods from the Serve the People Brigade and CRC Ilocos-outreach program
It has been a month ago since Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) ravaged Northern Luzon Provinces but thousands of people have yet to recover from the effects of the typhoon after it claimed lives, injured many people and damaged properties and livelihood.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported that some 712 barangays, 50, 000 families and some 200, 000 individuals in the Ilocos Region were affected by the typhoon.
The Serve the People Brigade-Ilocos, which the Children’s Rehabilitation Center Ilocos Outreach Program (CRC-Ilocos) is also a member, reported around 50-70% of agricultural products were damaged. Almost 90% of the peasants were not able to work in their farms during the typhoon and this resulted to food shortage. Many people were unable to access health facilities, especially those in the interior areas in the Provinces of Ilocos Norte, Sur and La Union during the typhoon as many roads were destroyed by the floods. Women and children also showed signs of trauma such as anxiety, loss of appetite and fatigue.
The Serve the People Brigade has already led series of relief missions in the provinces of the Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and La Union. However, there are still a large number of people especially those in the remote areas who are suffering from the effects of the calamity. A second wave of relief and rehabilitation mission as well as Psychosocial Debriefing would be conducted from November up to December of this year.
We appeal for your support, be it financial or material, for us to reach out to the victims, especially the women and children, who are in need of relief and rehabilitation services.
Please get in touch with us at the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC)-Ilocos Outreach Program at +63929-3485568 or crc.ilocos@gmail.com.
Your care counts.
NEWS RELEASE
17 October 2009
References: MA. ESMERALDA MACASPAC, Co-convenor, Task Force Children of the Storm;
Executive Director, Children’s Rehabilitation Center (0920-9102927)
SOPHIA GARDUCE, Co-convenor, Task Force Children of the Storm
Spokesperson, SALINLAHI Alliance for Children’s Concerns (0928-5089104)
In the wake of government ineptitude in disaster management
FILIPINOS SUFFERING FROM COLLECTIVE TRAUMA
A non-government organization focusing on psycho-social well-being of children in man-made and natural disasters scored the government for inflicting psychological trauma to the Filipino public through its failure in providing adequate disaster preparedness measures and disaster response in the wake of the recent typhoons.
According to the Children’s Rehabilitation Center, certain changes in the weather are causing a pattern of response in people that manifest their fears and anxieties. CRC Executive Director, Ma. Esmeralda Macaspac said that after Tropical Storm “Ondoy” and with the news of the coming typhoon “Pepeng” people were observed to rush to groceries and supermarkets and to rush home early causing traffic jams even before the so-called rush hour. “This is a normal reaction especially after many of us have been caught by surprise by the floods and subsequent destruction brought about by the storm. The absence of systematic and early warning and evacuation mechanisms caused strong anxiety reactions especially to those living near rivers or in low-lying areas severely affected by the flooding,” Macaspac said.
read more http://www.salinlahiphilippines.org/news/mediareleases/filipinos-suffering-collective-trauma
NEWS RELEASE:
For Reference Ms. Sophia Garduce, spokesperson (0928-5089104)
10 October 2009
To avert future disasters
“IMPLEMENT TOTAL LOG BAN, REPEAL THE MINING ACT 0F 1995” CHILD RIGHTS ADVOCATES CALL
With the recent events unfolding in the Philippines, particularly the onslaught of catastrophic typhoons “Ondoy” (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) devastating whole communities, child rights advocates join the call for a total log ban and the immediate junking of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995.
Sophia Garduce, spokesperson of SALINLAHI Alliance for Children’s Concerns, noted that “typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng victimized hundreds of thousands of children within a span of 15 days, a situation that could have very well been prevented if we had a government that cares both for its people and the environment.”
The group said that it is erroneous and misleading to put the blame solely on the urban settlers for the floods that submerged many parts of Luzon. “The Arroyo administration needs to go beyond saying “sorry” for not implementing a comprehensive plan on solid waste management and for not allocating resources for an adequate housing program. Moreover, it has guiltlessly opened up the natural resources of the country to massive abuse by big foreign corporations who denuded our forest reserves through highly mechanized loggings, put big numbers of communities at risk of sudden flooding by spill offs of mega-dams, and almost depleted our mineral resources through open pit mining. Saying sorry a million times over will not bring back the lives of children who died in the aftermath of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng,” said Garduce.
Likewise, Salinlahi also criticized the “Balik Probinsya” solution of the Arroyo government for the urban settlers who are displaced by the flood. “This solution is based on the premise that the people are safer in the provinces compared with their current settlements. The same disaster is now happening in the provinces, particularly in Northern Luzon precisely because the problem of depleted and rampant abuse of natural resources remains unaddressed,” Garduce said
“We Call on the congress to immediately repeal the Mining Act of 1995 and to pass a total log ban on highly commercialized and mechanized logging,’’ Garduce said. The group also calls on the congress to immediately abandon CHA-CHA as it is synonymous with opening up Philippine resources to 100% percent foreign ownership and further ravaging of natural resources. “Let us stand up for our children’s future and prevent a continuing disaster that is the Arroyo administration’s anti-people and anti-environment policies,” ended Garduce. ####
