Diarrhea cases reported in evacuation centers in three Bohol municipalities

The Department of Health confirmed Thursday that diarrhea cases have been reported in evacuation centers in three Bohol municipalities following the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that hit Central Visayas earlier this month.

 

Contaminated water supplies may have caused the diarrhea among evacuees in the municipalities of Tubigon, Calape, and Sikatuna, DOH Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said. 

 

Specific areas in the municipalities include the following:

 

The municipality of Loon had no cases of diarrhea, said Tayag.

 

"These are sporadic cases of diarrhea [and] may be water-borne or food-related," said Tayag.

 

Evacuation centers had to be set up in various areas in Bohol when a magnitude-7.2 earthquake hit Central Visayas on Oct. 15, which affected more than three million people in the area. 

 

Of these, 14,740 families or 78,897 people are staying in 125 evacuation centers, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Thursday.
 

The report from Tayag came from the data gathered by medical teams sent to various quake-affected towns on Oct. 18.

The teams sent included orthopedic and general surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses from the East Avenue Medical Center and the Quirino Memorial Medical Center. 

 

Diarrhea, cholera, and typhoid fever are diseases which can be contracted if water supplies are contaminated, said the DOH said in an earlier report on Balitanghali, aired Oct. 23.

 

Fe Camingao, Bohol's Sagbayan evacuation camp manager, said in the same report that they were only able to get water from a well [pozo], which a tent resident said was quite far from the camp.

 

“'Yung tubig namin parang gatas,” said Camingao.

 

The report also mentioned that the rest of the camp's water reserve is donated. The lack of water forced both adults and children to limit their bathing water, which resulted in an outbreak of lice among children.

 

To further complicate their situation, their toilets consist of slits on the ground, covered by a wooden grate and walled-in by sheets of tarpaulin. Evacuees are complaining of the makeshift latrines' smell, caused by the lack of running water.

 

Brgy. Handig in Maribojoc, Bohol, however, is coping well despite the loss of their water supply because of their Buhok-Buhok Spring. For the water to become potable, Albay's Office of Civil Defense set up a water filtration system by the spring.

 

“[Iki-clear] po natin, 'yung fresh water po dito na source, galing dito sa Buhok-Buhok Spring [para] mai-provide po natin ng maayos na inumin ang mga residente dito sa Maribojoc,” said Engr. Daryl Tabang, Albay OCD, in the same report on Balitanghali.

 

As a temporary solution to sanitation problems, Engr. Vivencio Ediza, Jr. of DOH Region 7 said the United Nations Children's Fund will send squatting plates to evacuation centers. 

Squatting plates sit above latrine holes to support the user and have covers over the excretion hole, which deter flies from swarming and possibly transferring diseases to food and water sources in the camp, according to the World Health Organization website.

 

According to Oxfam, an international humanitarian organization, water-borne diseases were already prevalent in areas where sinkholes—created by the quake—were found, for water from underground sources were contaminated by the shift in the earth. —KG, GMA News