Humanitarian crisis looms at evacuation centers

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is facing a humanitarian crisis with the increasing number of evacuees and civilians displaced by the fighting between government troops and a faction of the Moro National Liberation (MNLF).

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman yesterday said the number of affected people continued to increase as the fighting entered its 12th day.

The DSWD and the Crisis Management Committee (CMC) said 118,819 civilians or 23,794 families have been displaced by the fighting.

Many of them are staying in 57 evacuation centers while some have sought shelter with relatives.

Soliman said 71,265 evacuees are at the Joaquin F. Enriquez Sports Complex.

While thousands of affected civilians were being provided with their basic needs, Soliman said the evacuees have to bear the conditions and challenges of staying in tents and classrooms at different schools.

“We are considering it as a humanitarian crisis because the number of displaced civilians is already growing and all of their lives were disrupted,” Soliman said.

Officials noted that hundreds of children in the evacuation centers showed signs of trauma and stress but have started to recover. Most of the children were caught in the gunfight between government troops and rebels in their communities.

DSWD officials segregated the children up to five years old in two centers to provide early childhood development care.

Greta Martinez, a DSWD specialist for early childhood care and development, said the children immediately coped with the trauma intervention.

“Some of the children were immediately disrupted when they hear loud sound or gunfire. It was a clear manifestation of trauma,” she said.

The children were asked to draw and were told stories of kindness and understanding. One of the children even described the firefight as similar to a New Year celebration.

The DSWD said the trauma-affected children started healing after just two sessions of therapy.

Local governments, on the other hand, also sent in donations to affected families in Zamboanga City.

Local food suppliers and civil society organizations are also providing free meals to the evacuees.

The Sulu provincial government led by Gov. Abdusakur Tan has collected P234,700 in cash donations to help sustain relief work for the thousands of evacuees displaced by the fighting.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) deployed additional personnel from its Humanitarian Emergency Assistance Response Team to help Zamboanga City Mayor Isabelle Climaco-Salazar provide relief services to evacuees.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman dispatched a 20-member medical group to Zamboanga City to attend to the evacuees. 

The Philippine Red Cross provides 10,000 dinner packs nightly to augment ready-to-eat food packs from the community kitchen of the City Social Welfare Development Office (CSWDO) and different food service suppliers in the city.

The DSWD purchased 20,000 lunch packs and another 20,000 packs for dinner from the Junior Chamber International (JCI). Some individuals and families also shared packed meals at the evacuation center. – With Jose Rodel Clapano, John Unson, Rainier Allan Ronda