Guimaras manual cleanup a health risk to locals – UNDP rep
After losing their jobs last month to the country’s worst oil spill, Guimaras fishermen now face great health risks from their temporary work of removing bunker oil using their bare hands, GMANews.TV learned from an official of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Tuesday.
“People do not have the right equipment. Lack of proper equipment and technical capacity would have no impact in the cleanup," Shohei Matsura, UNDP Philippines program officer for the environment, told GMANews.TV in a phone interview.
Matsura urged the Philippine government and international donors to pay attention to the potential health problems arising from the lack of sophisticated equipment and systems in the cleanup.
UNDP has recently pledged support in the cleanup of the country’s worst maritime disaster, committing US$100,000 or about P5 million for environmental impact assessment and development of alternative livelihood for affected communities.
UNDP partners with the environment department and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) for the impact assessment, Matsura said.
The MT Solar I sank off the southern coast of Guimaras on August 11 after battling rough waves. More than 200,000 liters of the vessel’s 2.2 million-liter cargo of bunker oil spilled into the sea since then.
Hundreds of fishermen lost their jobs. Local health officials have found out that some residents in the severely-hit Nueva Valencia town experienced dizziness, headaches, coughs and shortness of breath due to exposure to the oil.
Coordinate
Matsura said the Guimaras tragedy demands that government and donor institutions should coordinate more closely when responding to disasters.
“It is more of how we react to disasters," he said. “People are trying to do the same things and to the take the lead at the same time."
He said coordination among agencies, especially on information needs, would hasten recovery efforts.
UNDP invests about $15 million annually in the Philippine in environmental protection and rehabilitation projects.
Shortly before the Guimaras tragedy happened, UNDP began its disaster management planning program with the Philippine government called the “Ready Project."
Launched in July, the project aims to establish long-term preventive steps in natural disasters, Matsura said.
Insurance premiums
In a related development, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr announced Tuesday that some US$300 million in insurance premiums will be made available for residents and resort owners in Guimaras to claim for their losses following last month's oil spill.
Cruz said the insurance premiums, from the UK-based International Oil Protection Compensation Fund will go to cleanup, replacement of losses in fishery, aquaculture, and tourism industries.
"Residents who rely on fishing and resort owners who lost clients because of the oil spill are entitled to make claims," Cruz, who heads Task Force Guimaras, said on dzRH radio.
Cruz said the computation of claims will be based on the "net profits" that the affected residents would have made had the oil spill not taken place.
He also urged local fishermen to band together and make one big claim so they would not have problems following it up individually.
Also, he said residents and resort owners can file for damages to the environment.
"The fund will cover all expenses of government and the people of Guimaras who worked to restore the environment to as close to where it was originally," he said. - Rorie Fajardo, GMANews.TV
“People do not have the right equipment. Lack of proper equipment and technical capacity would have no impact in the cleanup," Shohei Matsura, UNDP Philippines program officer for the environment, told GMANews.TV in a phone interview.
Matsura urged the Philippine government and international donors to pay attention to the potential health problems arising from the lack of sophisticated equipment and systems in the cleanup.
UNDP has recently pledged support in the cleanup of the country’s worst maritime disaster, committing US$100,000 or about P5 million for environmental impact assessment and development of alternative livelihood for affected communities.
UNDP partners with the environment department and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) for the impact assessment, Matsura said.
The MT Solar I sank off the southern coast of Guimaras on August 11 after battling rough waves. More than 200,000 liters of the vessel’s 2.2 million-liter cargo of bunker oil spilled into the sea since then.
Hundreds of fishermen lost their jobs. Local health officials have found out that some residents in the severely-hit Nueva Valencia town experienced dizziness, headaches, coughs and shortness of breath due to exposure to the oil.
Coordinate
Matsura said the Guimaras tragedy demands that government and donor institutions should coordinate more closely when responding to disasters.
“It is more of how we react to disasters," he said. “People are trying to do the same things and to the take the lead at the same time."
He said coordination among agencies, especially on information needs, would hasten recovery efforts.
UNDP invests about $15 million annually in the Philippine in environmental protection and rehabilitation projects.
Shortly before the Guimaras tragedy happened, UNDP began its disaster management planning program with the Philippine government called the “Ready Project."
Launched in July, the project aims to establish long-term preventive steps in natural disasters, Matsura said.
Insurance premiums
In a related development, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr announced Tuesday that some US$300 million in insurance premiums will be made available for residents and resort owners in Guimaras to claim for their losses following last month's oil spill.
Cruz said the insurance premiums, from the UK-based International Oil Protection Compensation Fund will go to cleanup, replacement of losses in fishery, aquaculture, and tourism industries.
"Residents who rely on fishing and resort owners who lost clients because of the oil spill are entitled to make claims," Cruz, who heads Task Force Guimaras, said on dzRH radio.
Cruz said the computation of claims will be based on the "net profits" that the affected residents would have made had the oil spill not taken place.
He also urged local fishermen to band together and make one big claim so they would not have problems following it up individually.
Also, he said residents and resort owners can file for damages to the environment.
"The fund will cover all expenses of government and the people of Guimaras who worked to restore the environment to as close to where it was originally," he said. - Rorie Fajardo, GMANews.TV
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
