MANILA, Philippines The Swedish Red Cross is sending a Mass Water Sanitation Emergency Response Unit to the typhoon-stricken province of Iloilo to help augment limited water supplies in the area, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Saturday.
A statement in the DPA website (www.dfa.gov.ph) quoted a report by Philippine Ambassador to Sweden Maria Zeneida Collinson as saying the unit forms part of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies quick deployment response tools, consisting of trained and skilled personnel and equipment, that can be rapidly deployed when local facilities are either destroyed or overwhelmed.
The federation has made a Preliminary Emergency Appeal of $8 million (5.1 million euro) in cash, kind, or services in response to a request for support from the Philippine National Red Cross. Some 16.% of this target amount has been covered as of July 4, the DFA said.
Collinson said the Swedish government is sending 5 million Swedish kroner (P38.419 million) to fund operations of the Swedish Red Cross in the Philippines.
Iloilo recover from typhoon "Frank" by sending A statement on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) website
Composed of at least six to eight specialists and related equipment, the ERU will provide basic sanitation facilities for up to 20,000 beneficiaries and initiate hygiene and health promotion programs," the DFA said.
Collinson noted that water sources such as deep wells were damaged and contaminated with flash floods and mud when typhoon "Frank" lashed the central Philippines last month.
Urgent repairs by the province's local government unit have restored water supplies to some towns.
But officials said there are estimates it will take another three months to fully repair the province's main pipelines, which were destroyed when major bridges collapsed at the height of the typhoon.
At least 1,121,136 persons, or 226,214 families, in the province have since been affected by the typhoon.
An emergency response unit or ERU is fully self-sufficient for one month and can remain in the field for up to four months, the DFA said. - GMANews.TV