'Carina' aftermath: Marikina rushes to secure antibiotics amid record flood evacuations

MANILA, Philippines — Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro campaigned on Thursday for a larger supply of antibiotics for flood-affected residents in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Carina.

Teodoro said the city needs doxycycline, used to treat leptospirosis, a bacterial disease acquired from contaminated floodwaters. Carina enhanced the seasonal monsoon which delivered a torrent of rains to the city and the wider capital region where flooding reached alarming heights.

“We are really in need of doxycycline. We’ve been distributing doxycycline as of last night until this morning in order to avoid the cases of leptospirosis,” he said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart.

Marikina's initial doxycycline supply was meant for 20,000 individuals, Teodoro said. But the number of evacuees have reached 30,085 individuals, excluding those in informal emergency centers.

"This does not include those evacuated to other places, those in churches and gymnasiums. It only [counts those] in 38 evacuation centers we've identified," he said in Filipino.

He said the number of displaced people this time is higher than when typhoons Ondoy in 2009 and Ulysses in 2020 submerged the city.

Purchasing of needed drugs is already underway, he said, attributing the funds the Marikina government accessed to the quick response allocation when Metro Manila declared a state of calamity on Wednesday.

The local executive also cautioned that doxycycline should only be taken by those exposed to floodwater.

"It says here that two capsules a day must be taken for three days… This is why health education is important," he said.

“It’s advised that a person who has submerged in flood should take the medicine. This is not a preventive measure, but it should be taken after exposure,” he added.

The Marikina River's water level rapidly rose during the onslaught of the powerful typhoon that triggered monsoon rains, reaching a critical level by Wednesday afternoon. It surpassed the third alarm threshold that signals forced evacuations. — Gabriell Christel Galang