DSWD-7 implements family access cards in quake sites

CEBU CITY, March 2 (PIA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will implement the use of the family access cards (FAC) in earthquake-stricken areas to ensure that no one is left unattended.

This is also to avoid duplication of goods and services received by the quake victims.

With this development, the DSWD will be able to identify and track who among the disaster victims have received and benefited from the relief supplies (food and non-food items) coming from both government and private sectors as well as the different services they have availed of, such as psychosocial intervention, medical, and shelter.

The cards contain detailed information on all the clients served inside and outside the evacuation centers (family composition, specific address, the number and kind of assistance received, signatures of the head of the family, service providers, social workers) as well as local officials (barangay captains and mayors).

So far, 61,027 victims have been served, amounting to more than P24 million.

A total of 3,526 houses have been recorded to be totally destroyed and 5,978 houses partially damaged.

There are now 39 evacuation centers left in the province of Negros Oriental with 8,723 displaced families who are currently and still temporarily taking refuge as aftershocks continue. (RMN-PIA-7/HFG/DSWD-7)

Thursday 1st of March 2012

http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?menu=&pdp=4&article=1091330597280

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The doctor will sea you now: Hospital boat could rescue victims of natural disasters

We've all heard of the flying doctors - now we could soon have the floating doctors thanks to a hospital boat developed by an Italian yacht designer.

Marino Alfani, 29, came up with the concept after talking to his childhood friend Dr Taddeo Baino, who had just returned from a medical mission in Africa.

The hospital boat would be able to come close in to shore and ferry passengers to it by ambulance and helicopter

Mr Alfani realised that a hospital boat could treat people from coastal areas that have no or ill-equipped hospitals and could also respond to emergencies at sea like the recent Costa Concordia wreck. It could also provide relief to victims of natural disasters like the 2004 tsunami, which wiped out whole road networks.

So he designed a catamaran that would be equipped with state-of-the-art medical examination areas, operating theatres, laboratories, recovery rooms and a hyperbaric chamber (for oxygen therapy). There would be a small helipad on the bridge and a garage accessible from the stern to store an ambulance.

The boat would accommodate three crew members and nine doctors and nurses and could treat 50 people a day - which would be 1,500 a month. As a catamaran it could come close in to shore.

Speaking to L'Eco Di Bergamo, Mr Alfani said: 'The earth is surrounded by water and it is unthinkable that there is no tool that allows immediate first aid at sea.'

He added that the boat was modeled on the emergency room of the Bergamo Hospital in Italy.
The boat, made from aluminium alloy would measure 115ft long, 48ft wide and stand 25ft tall. It would be propelled by two 1200 diesel electric motors and travel at a top speed of 10knots. The boat would have a fuel capacity of 50,000l.

Mr Alfani has an architecture degree from the Politecnico di Milano as well as a Masters in Yacht Design and now has his own studio where he can tackle boat design to construction. He is also an experienced interior designer.

The hospital boat concept won a prize this month at the 2012 Millennium Yacht Design Awards.

22 February 2012

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2104254/Hospital-boat-designed-Marino-Alfani-rescue-victims-natural-disasters.html#ixzz1nAXZR0S6

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‘Politicking’ in relief distribution slammed

GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental—The parish priest of a Negros Oriental town ravaged by earthquake and landslides has deplored politicking in the distribution of assistance to victims.
Fr. Felipe Luis Ferolina of the San Sebastian parish in La Libertad town also lambasted those who took advantage of the disaster for personal gain.

He cited business owners who significantly increased the prices of their products after the calamity stuck.

“This is an emergency. Instead of taking advantage, we must be united in helping and sharing what we have,” Ferolina told the Inquirer.

La Libertad, along with Guihulngan City, was the worst hit in the 6.9-magnitude earthquake and landslides that struck Central Visayas on February 6.

The death toll in the disaster was 41 as of 2 p.m. Sunday. Fifty-six residents remained missing—18 in Barangay (village) Planas in Guihulngan and 38 in Barangay Solonggon in La Libertad.
Ferolina said “politics came into play” in the distribution of food packs citing those with stickers with the name of politicians. The practice came to the priest’s attention from accounts of evacuees and other victims. But he clarified that the stickers were not of officials of La Libertad.

Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo has come under fire after food packs distributed to victims had stickers that read: “DSWD Magdegamo Rescue.” Degamo has explained that the markings in the food packs were meant to inform the public that the provincial government was doing its job.

Delays
Some victims in Guihulngan City complained of the delay in the delivery of food assistance and the concentration of distribution of the goods in the house of Mayor Ernesto Reyes in the city proper.

One victim of a village spoke to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity that relief assistance arrived in their barangay Friday evening or four days after the earthquake struck.
“We learned that the relief goods were already at the mayor’s house but it didn’t reach us until Friday,” the victim said.

Reyes denied that he was controlling the distribution of relief assistance.
“Anyone or any group can distribute their assistance to the victims. You can confirm that with media organizations and other donor groups,” Reyes told the Inquirer. He said the assistance was channeled to barangay officials and since Thursday, these have also been given directly to the victims. “There are some people who are spreading wrong information including those that I have received cash when in fact these were bottled water and rice. They just want to ruin me,” Reyes said. He, however, declined to identify them.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) urged local officials not to politicize the distribution of relief goods after receiving complaints from residents about the delay.
“Spare the victims of the earthquake from politics, prioritize the people,” said Christian Tuayon, secretary general of Bayan in Negros. He called on government agencies and the private sector to deliver the aid directly to the people so relief goods wouldn’t go through politicians.

Landslide
On Saturday night, around 200 evacuees in Barangay Tinayunan Beach in Guihulngan were again evacuated in military trucks after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) issued a landslide alert in the village.

MGB team leader Abraham Lucero Jr., said in a letter to Tinayunan Beach village chief Monica Aranas that the landslide susceptibility rating in the area was “high.”

9:42 pm | Sunday, February 12th, 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/144389/%E2%80%98politicking%E2%80%99-in-relief-distribution-slammed

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