The number of people injured by firecrackers during the Christmas and New Year holidays rose Thursday to nearly 800, still about 21 percent lower than the total injuries reported last year, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
There were no firecracker injuries in this city. There was a lot of noise—from the shrieks of children aboard a convoy of vehicles going round and round the village, to the wailing of sirens and ambulances, the clanging of metal against metal—as people went around banging pans and ladles and rhythmically honking cars and revving car engines, as the city greeted the New Year.
There were fewer firecracker injuries last Christmas Day compared with the number of cases reported in 2011, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Wednesday.
At least nine firecracker blast victims on Tuesday were treated in different hospitals in Cebu and Mandaue cities.
The number of people injured during the holiday season has breached the 1,000 mark, the Department of Health said Thursday.
Firecracker injuries welcoming 2012 went down by 13 percent compared with last year’s figure, but many residents woke up to a new problem—a thick blanket of smog spawned by the New Year revelry.
Two public hospitals in Valenzuela City have recorded only 12 cases of holiday revelry-related injuries from Dec. 21 to Dec. 29 this year.
Two days before the New Year, two public hospitals in Valenzuela City have already recorded eight cases of revelry-related injuries in the period from Dec. 21.
