Only 43% of evacuation centers have enough toilets, says DOH exec

Less than half of the evacuation centers being used by persons displaced by the eruption of Taal Volcano have adequate toilets, a health official said on Friday.

Ironically, Director Gloria Balboa of the DOH's Health Emergency Management Bureau said the centers were awash with bottled water for the evacuees drinking needs.

Balboa said portable toilets were a costly "stopgap" solution.

Only 43% of evacuation centers have adequate toilets, she added.

"It is better to construct these toilets rather than using portalets. You need a lot of water for the portalets," Balboa told government, private and civil sector representatives during a briefing on the response to the Taal's eruption.

Water tanks, containers, dispensers, testing kits, disinfectants are also needed, as well as regular declogging of latrines and siphoning of septic tanks, Balboa said.

More than 70,000 families, or some 282,000 individuals, have been affected by the Taal Volcano's activity. It released ash during a steam-driven eruption last January 12 and later on spewed lava fountains.

The volcano remains on Alert Level 4, which means a hazardous eruption is imminent.

A total of 39,052 families or 148,987 individuals were taking temporary shelter in 493 evacuation centers as of Wednesday morning, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

"Generally the assessment is that all 237 evacuation centers have adequate water supply because bottled water is really overflowing in most of these evacuation centers, but there seems to be some gap in domestic water," Balboa said.

She said authorities are now "having a problem" disposing of the plastic bottles.

"It's not really good to have all these donations of individual or single-use bottled water, it has to be reusable and bigger plastic containers," she said.

On the up side, she said, the evacuees have adequate food from the local government and from donors.

She said they are also given psychological first aid.

A medical assessment in 237 evacuation centers showed that acute respiratory infections topped the list of diseases among the displaced, with 2,995 cases recorded as of Wednesday, Balboa reported.

More than 700 individuals were found to have hypertension, 439 had influenza-like illness, and 268 were injured, though the injury was unspecified.

Skin disease, diarrhea, eye irritation, diabetes, burns, and measles were also in the top 10 list of diseases. A total of 8,496 cases were recorded.

But Balboa noted there has been a decrease in cases of acute respiratory infection and influenza-like illness in the past days. —NB, GMA News