105-year-old woman injured in poor evacuation conditions

Lola Udang, who could no longer hear or see clearly, is 105 years old.

She hit her head after slipping in an evacuation center in Pantar, Lanao del Norte that had no electricity.

"Kawawa kami,"  was the plea of one of the 17 children with whom the elderly woman shared a single room, according to Bam Alegre's Balitanghali report on Thursday.

Lola Udang and her companions are evacuees, or "bakwit," from Marawi City, where fighting between government forces and the terrorist Maute group has raged for a month.

Lola Udang and more than 400 other displaced residents have been sharing only two portalets located far from the evacuation center.

Their plight moved Jamila Macaraya, a teacher who lived nearby, to offer her own house's facilities.

"Tuwing nakikita namin yung mga tao diyan, 'yung mga evacuees,  naaawa kami sa kanila. Para naman makatulong sa kanila, kaya nga napag-isipan namin na i-offer yung bahay namin," she said.

Soon, however, her own facilities became overused as well.

Some evacuees have resorted to digging holes in the ground where they could relieve themselves.

"Yung ating mga inilagay na portalet, dapat pansamantala lang 'yon, or quick response," said Department of Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial in an interview with Alegre.

With the crisis now in its first month, Ubial said that the DOH, together with the DPWH and Office of Civil Defense, will seek to construct semi-permanent bathrooms for the evacuees to thwart the spread of diseases like diarrhea and amoebiasis. — Margaret Claire Layug/BM, GMA News