Groups deploy humanitarian aid to help children, families in quake-hit areas

Several child rights groups deployed humanitarian teams to help children and their families following the magnitude 7 quake that hit Northern Luzon on Wednesday morning.

Save the Children Philippines said it deployed humanitarian team to conduct rapid assessment and initial response activities to children and families in affected communities in Abra.

The child rights group said it will be working with the local government to provide emergency shelters, jerry cans for storing potable water, and hygiene kits for COVID-19 prevention to 1,000 target households.

“Disasters such as earthquakes take a heavy toll especially to children most impacted by inequality and discrimination,” Atty. Albert Muyot, Save the Children Philippines chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“We call on the full and effective implementation of the Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act (RA 10821) to ensure that children, pregnant and lactating mothers, and those with disabilities, are protected from all forms of harm and continuously provided with access to basic health and nutrition services, safe spaces, transitional shelters, and psychosocial interventions,” he added.

The group also launched a donation drive to raise funds for water and hygiene kits, household essentials and plastic sheets for temporary shelter, mental health and psychosocial support, and child protection for affected families.

Meanwhile, the UNICEF Philippines, together with its partners, said they are assessing the immediate needs of affected families and expressed support to the emergency response of the government.

“UNICEF’s prepositioned emergency supplies are on standby to support the Government’s relief efforts and our teams are ready to be deployed to reach children and families in the affected areas,” it said in a separate statement.

Several donation drives have been launched to help victims of the magnitude 7 earthquake that hit Abra and was felt in Metro Manila and other provinces.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Friday said the number of reported fatalities due to the earthquake has increased to six.

The NDRRMC said one fatality was reported from Ilocos Region while five were reported and eventually confirmed in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).

The agency said four people were reported missing in CAR and 136 were injured in Ilocos, Cagayan, and Cordillera.

A total of 79,260 people or 19,486 families in 246 barangays in Ilocos and CAR were affected by the earthquake, the NDRRMC said.—Richa Noriega/AOL, GMA News