PHILIPPINES HAIYAN RESPONSE
Pontevedra - RAPID ASSESSMENT - 20/11/2013
Abraham Varamapth : a.varampath@savethechildren.org.uk
Information sources:
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Rapid field assessment in Pontevedra Evacuation Centres on 20/11/2013
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Interviews with
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Mayor of Prontevedra
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School Teachers
Focus group with
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Evacuees
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Children in the evacuation camps
GENERAL FINDINGS
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The schools in Pontevedra (Pontevedra Central School and Don Victoria Dais Memorial
School) and a municipal hall are currently as evacuation centres
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People in the evacuation centres are from the nearby Barangays (Takas and Ilaya)
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While most families have gone back to their homes after the Typhoon, approximately 70
families are still housed in Pontevedra Central School and 120 households in Don Victoria
School respectively.
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Men from the evacuation centres go during the day to repair their houses as much as
possible, while women stay back. Many men are also daily wage labourers, thereby having
had to balance time between their daily work and rebuilding their homes.
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No assistance has been received so far with regards to any shelter material
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The Mayoral office has instructed them to evacuate in four or five days to restart school,
which has been closed since the typhoon. There has been no indication of how long people
can stay in the municipal hall.
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Given that the school buildings themselves need rehabilitation and no temporary structures
available, it is hard to imagine how classes will be held. On the other hand, it is also hard to
imagine how the evacuees will return back to their homes, while people are still trying to
rebuild
SECTOR FINDINGS
WASH
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Water availability in the evacuation centres is reasonable. In the school centres, there were
shallow wells with handpumps that provided water for washing and bathing, while for
drinking the evacuees collected water from a nearby water treatment plant set up by
UNICEF. The water availability in the hall was similar, IOM providing additional water
storage in the hall.
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Household water storage is however not appropriate; most families were seen using
whatever containers they could save during the typhoon. Though chlorine tablets were
provided by the government, people did not use them.
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Both the schools had latrines and wash areas, what they call ‘comfort rooms’ locally.
Though the numbers did not meet sphere standards, the community felt there were
sufficient numbers to cater for the families currently. IDPs in the municipal hall were
provided with emergency pit latrines constructed by IOM/UNICEF; there were however no
bathing areas provided.
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Environmental sanitation in and around the centres is poor, with debris and wastewater
collected around the houses and potentially being a health hazard
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Personal hygiene is poor, especially among children. Though people and children said they
washed hands with soap; they also admitted that, particularly children do not practice is
regularly, especially after defecation. Soaps have been distributed by the municipality
initially, however quite insufficient (approximately 1 bar of bathing soap and 1 laundry soap
per family). There were no soaps or operational handwashing facilities near the comfort
rooms or the temporary latrines.
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The municipal water supply system has been partially restored with assistance from UNICEF.
People from nearby islands like Agbanog, come in boats and collect drinking water from
these treatment plants.
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In the town, most families have household latrines, but most either partially or fully
damaged. Latrines and bathing areas in homes of people living in the evacuation centres are
completely damaged.
Shelter/NFIs
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Could not ascertain the exact details of damaged houses in the municipality. This is being
followed up
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Shelter needs are however huge, particularly in the coastal barangays, where most houses
are completely damaged
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Distribution of tarpaulins has been totally inadequate
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No assistance has been provided to people, particularly living in evacuation centres, to
rebuild their homes
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Evacuees having asked to vacate by 24th November without providing any temporary
solution or package to rebuild their homes, it is hard to imagine the situation next week.
People are unsure on what they would do at this moment
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Availability of materials, especially bamboo is in short supply due to the damage to them
during the typhoon. People do not have access to timber, GI sheets and construction tools
like hammers, saw, etc are also not available for people to rebuild their homes themselves.
Health
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Diarrohea has been the major sickness since the typhoon followed by ARI, physical wounds
and fever
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Access to health facilities in the town is good. The municipal health centre at Pontevedra is
quite well equipped to deal with current case load. However, if there is an outbreak of a
disease, it would be challenging
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Support to PLW and quite good in the town
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Due to lack of continuous power supply, there is an issue with the cold chain. Would be a
good idea for SC health advisors to check on this at the municipal level
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The district health authorities mentioned that the health facilities in the barangays have
been damaged. They are currently assessing and a report would be available soon
Education
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Most schools have had varying degrees of damage. Currently the District Education
Department is completing the damage assessment and submitting it to the divisional
officers. Teaching and learning materials has been partially or completely damaged during
the typhoon
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Schools are currently not functional, since evacuees still stay there and also children and
their families are trying to rebuild and repair their homes in their respective communities
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Most teachers have been affected by the typhoon and many of them are still in evacuation
centres. However, they have showed incredible resilience in coming into school every day
and assessing possibility of restarting classes.
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WASH facilities in the two schools are adequate, however will need repair and rehabilitation
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The municipal office is coordinating food distribution to the IDPs in the evacuation centres
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It has been unfortunately ad hoc and supplies normally do not last for more than couple of
days
FSL
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Rice, noodles and canned sardines were distributed
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IDPs to have some savings, which they use to purchase some food, especially for children
and infants (some women mentioned purchasing infant formula from the drug store)
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Most people in the evacuation centres were daily wage labourers and some involved in small
enterprises like electrician, plumber and scrap dealer
Child Protection:
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With play grounds either unsafe (due to debris) or inaccessible, it is important to provide
adequate space for children (CFS) to play and interact
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Cooking inside the rooms at the evacuation centres is a fire hazard for children.
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Child protection concerns were assessed by Khalil Cambran, CP specialist, who will be
preparing a detailed report.
OTHER INFO
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None
Logistics
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None
Response to-date:
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Relief food including rice, noodles and sardines, which was regular initially, but there has not
been a distribution of food the last three days
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Free access to water (at the kiosk set up by UNICEF in Pontevedra), cleaned up latrines
(comfort rooms) in the schools
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Access to free health care at the health centre in Pontevedra
RECOMMENDATIONS
For Save the Children, it is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate good early recovery. Given the
context where people in the evacuation centres have to return to damaged homes and children to
damaged schools, an integrated approach to address basic needs in the community and
infrastructure and education needs in the schools will be most appropriate.
First phase emergency (First 2-4 weeks):
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Detailed assessment of basic needs at the community level (around the evacuation centres)
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Various SC Sectors discuss ways of working together to achieve this
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Inform Mayor of the municipality that Save the Children is committed to early recovery of
the evacuees
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Inform schools authorities that SC would like to support on rehabilitation
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Cleaning up debris in schools as possibly a CFW activity
In parallel to the above, begin programming that includes
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A shelter return package for the evacuees that includes construction tools, basic materials
(GI sheet, timber, nails, etc) and WASH return package (latrine materials, water storage
facility and other accessories; child hygiene kit). Aa ‘conditional cash voucher’ system to
implement this could be explored
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Food and nutrition vouchers to address atleast one month needs for a family
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Construct temporary learning space in the schools and provide learning/teaching materials
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Health and hygiene promotion campaign
Emergency (First 6 months)
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Rehabilitate schools including WASH infrastructure
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Extended community and school outreach programme on health, nutrition and hygiene
promotion