Flood displaces 88,843 in Cotabato City

MASHOD SALIK
COTABATO CITY—Some 88,843 people from 33 of the 37 villages of this city have been displaced by the flood caused by typhoon Dodong.
The flooding, which started last June 7, has affected a total of 25,375 families of this below sea level city.
The Cotabato Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) had already started to usher more villagers to safer grounds as water level continue to rise, specifically in Barangays Poblacion mother, Poblacion 1 to 4 and 7 to 9, including those from Rosary Heights 2 to 3 and 5 to 9. Bagua 1 and 2, Kalanganan 1 and 2, Tamontaka Mother, Tamontaka 1 to 5 have also been flooded.
The poor affected civilians stayed at the 20 evacuation sites since June 07, 2011. The evacuation sites categorized into 3 categories such as 10 sites using schools, 12 sites using open areas like higher grounds and 8 sites using mosque, chapels, day care centers and multi-purpose centers.
Veranda W. Samson, assistant city social welfare and development officer, said that aside from the fact that the city is below sea level, water lilies have also caused the clogging of river tributaries of Rio Grande de Mindanao, causing an overflow of water from the largest river in Mindanao.
“We have to accept the reality that Cotabato City is below sea level and we are the catcher of the water from the upstream,” Samson said while reporting that they had been trying to provide food and other relief assistance to the flood victims.
“I think we need to strengthen the capability building of the barangays to respond the case of calamities. Mitigation and disaster preparedness on the part of the stakeholders are very important,” she said while recalling several flooding that happened in the city in the recent past.
Dr. Marlow O. Ninal, the city health officer said they were doing their best to deliver the priority health needs for the flood victims who are in 20 evacuation sites.
Many of these evacuation sites are makeshift tents established along the roads and bridges with no access to drinking water and toilet facilities. Among the common diseases monitored in evacuation sites are cough, fever, diarrhea, skin lesions, cough and fever, the city health officer said.
Patients with cough registered 101, fever 70, skin lesions 63, cough with fever 60, wound 36 and diarrhea 30, among others, bared Ninal, who believed that the illnesses were caused by poor sanitation in the tents.
“We have adequate medicines so far. We are also supplying drinking waters and portable toilets. We have 10 functional health centers and eight temporary health centers that are open 24 hours,” he said.
The city had been experiencing flooding since 1990. In August 2008, typhoon Frank hit 29 barangays of the area. Thousands of residents of the city also fled their homes due to flooding in September also of 2008. Typhoon Jolina also hit the city in 2009.