By Nancy I. Mediavillo
LEGAZPI CITY, (PNA) – The province of Bohol welcomed the six-service humanitarian mission of the Team Albay-Office of Civil Defense 5, Albay’s tenth assistance project to local government units hit by natural calamities, Dr. Cedric Daep, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Office chief, told the PNA in an emailed statement on Saturday.
Governor Edgardo M. Chatto said the mission is a big help to areas in the province hit by a magnitude-7.2 earthquake on Tuesday.
“It further strengthens the sisterhood relations between Bohol and Albay,” Chatto said.
In a briefing held Friday between Team Albay-OCD5 and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) of Bohol, Daep disclosed the composition and the services brought by the team to the province.
He said the team is composed of 49 members.
The first batch is a 13-man contingent from the Philippine Navy and Philippine Army; the second batch composed of five men from the Governor’s Office, Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital, Provincial Health Office and Provincial Engineering Office.
The third batch consists of 23 personnel from Albay Health and Emergency Mission-PHO, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Bureau of Fire Protection, APSEMO, PEO and three media members.
The fourth batch is composed of 21 personnel from the Tactical Operations Group 5 of the Philippine Air Force, Philippine National Police, OCD and PHO and has just arrived SaturdaY and now undergoing briefing prior to deployment.
Daep also enumerated the services to be undertaken by the group with the first being WATSAN or water sanitation that involves providing purified water to the residents of Maribojoc town, which was hardest hit by the earthquake, destroying its source of water and water pipes.
The water purifying equipment of Albay can produce 30,000 liters of potable water per hour.
The WATSAN team is now on its way to Maribojoc.
The second service is the psychosocial care to be done by the DSWD for the traumatic victims of the calamity.
The third is the medical treatment to be done by the PHO-AHEM medical and paramedic group for those with injuries in Maribojoc town.
A hospital support is the fourth, which will be done not only in Maribojoc but also in other parts of the province that need medical services.
The fifth service involves technical support for the Bicol PDRRMC and Maribojoc MDRRMC.
The sixth service is the structural assessment of damaged buildings, which is to be undertaken by Albay PEO personnel in cooperation with their counterparts in Bohol.
Daep added that the team will give lectures and briefings to local government officials and residents who are still afraid of tsunami.
He said that the P1 million assistance of Albay for Cebu and Bohol came from the calamity fund of the province, adding that the aid was based on the declarations of these provinces that they are under a state of calamity.
The mission team will stay in Bohol until Oct. 27, he said.