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Creating Safe Communities for Children | PCMN
An Emergency on Top of Another: The Internally Displaced People’s Travails in Mindanao
by admin | April 7, 2020 | Emergency Response
While delivering services to the most
marginalised and displaced people
of Mindanao, 6 months ago, 70,000
displaced people of Regions 11 and
12[1], suffered from economic
dislocation due to a series of
earthquake that started in October
2019. This disaster buried houses
and farms of mostly farmers
populace in the regions. Since
October, people lived in
government supervised evacuation
camps.
Today, the same areas are again
threathened by a formidable threat
to health, the COVID-19 virus which
has became a global pandemic. It is
an emergency on top of another
emergency, the earthquake
disaster. The cramped situation in
the evacuation camps, lack of WASH facilities, created fear of COVID-19 among the displaced people.
The municipality of Makilala in North Cotabato, has as of writing, manages 15 evacuation camps with 2,926 families located in government managed camps, community-based and or self-settled camps. Today, seven hundred sixty-three (763) families fled the camps shifting to home-based and or settling with their tents back to their former residence for fear of COVID-19. With lack of strong health facilities, people are insecure of the situation, and refuses to stay in the camps. PCMN installed a public paging system in 10 camps which serves as a public announcement kioks. Announcements and campaigns to keep people safe against COVID-19 is a daily fixtures in the camps.
PCMN in partnership with the local government leaders in both Makilala and Magsaysay, Davao Del Sur, conducts food relief to families inside the camps to ease out on the food needs by first week of April. Hygiene kits such as masks, alcohol, house disinfectants and others will likewise be distributed to the IDPs to improve and protect from COVID-19.
