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3 dead, over 100 Dinagat locals sick from acute gastroenteritis
Over a hundred residents of the Dinagat Islands experienced acute gastroenteritis, with at least three locals dying from dehydration, following the impact of Typhoon Odette in the area.
Five out of the islands' seven towns recorded cases of acute gastroenteritis, the most in the town of Cagdianao where the three deaths were reported. At least 40 have also been rushed to the Dinagat District Hospital.
According to Dinagat Islands Administrator Dr. Aimee Jimeno, the Department of Health had sent a water purification system, but officials were still trying to get it to function.
“May dumating na facility ang Department of Health na magpu-purify ng water. However, hindi pa siya nagfa-function. We’re trying our best na maging functional ‘yung water purifying facility ng DOH,” she said in Rgil Relator's Sunday report on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend.”
“Nagpadala din ang Bureau of Fire Protection ng fire trucks for water rationing,” she added.
(A water purification system from the DOH had arrived but is not yet functional. We’re trying our best to make this function. The BFP also sent fire trucks for water rationing.)
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Local officials also hinted at the possibility of declaring an outbreak, as water supplies remained limited for the 137,000 residents in the area.
“Although ‘yung doctors natin umiikot, may mga volunteer doctors, may military doctors na nandito na rin, lahat ng meron tayo sa government, umiikot na,” Vice Governor Nilo Demrey Jr. said in the same report.
(While our doctors are doing the rounds, we also have volunteer doctors and military doctors. All government personnel are on the ground.)
The Visayas and Mindanao regions were severely hit by Odette which entered the country earlier this month. It left the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Saturday afternoon, after causing “total devastation” in areas along its path.
Damage to agriculture caused by the typhoon exceeded P3 billion as of 4 p.m. on Friday, December 24. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA News