Solon warns evacuation centers may increase COVID-19 cases

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WITH the rainy season now in full swing, a senior official of the House Representatives has warned that evacuation centers all over the country could become hot spots for coronavirus disease infection unless the government set up preventive mechanisms in advance.

Deputy Speaker Johnny Pimentel (Surigao del Sur) called on the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to provide a template for protecting evacuees against the spread of COVID-19.

“We urge the NDRRMC, along with the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force, to set the standards and guidelines for the new evacuation centers that hopefully will be resistant to the highly contagious respiratory disease,” Pimentel said.

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He said it is inevitable that local government units along the so-called typhoon corridor would be called upon to move out communities in low-lying areas threatened by flood and storm surges.

“We certainly don’t want the centers to become super spreaders of COVID-19, in the event that local governments have to move out threatened communities,” he said.

At present, Pimentel warned that all pre-pandemic temporary shelters as well as local disaster responders are ill-equipped to handle the added hazard of COVID-19.

He said the old system of stuffing big crowds of people into school buildings and gymnasiums without adequate safety precautions will no longer work, and in fact will even present a potential public health disaster.

Pimentel recommended that preparations be made to address congestion and allow for physical distancing. He likewise said segregation areas for the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions should be created.

“We also expect the centers to have temperature scans, ample hand-washing facilities and personal hygiene provisions, apart from ready supplies of face masks,” Pimentel said.

Likewise, he suggested protocols for disinfecting evacuation centers, equip staff with personal protective equipment, provide for the contactless distribution of food packs, and emergency responders trained to spot possible COVID-19 symptoms among evacuees.

The London-based global risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft ranks the Philippines as one of the four most unsafe countries in the world in terms of vulnerability to storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, landslides and other natural disasters. The three others are China, Japan and Bangladesh.

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