UN agency warns of Zamboanga ‘time bomb’
THE DON Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex (grandstand) where evacuees continue to stay to this day JULIE S. ALIPALA
ZAMBOANGA CITY—The rationing of water and continuing power outages in the city were like a “time bomb” that could explode in the form of a health epidemic and rising criminality in at least nine shelters for residents displaced by the terror attack by followers of Moro leader Nur Misuari and the government siege to flush the terrorists out, according to a United Nations agency monitoring the situation in the shelters.
Farah Alih Muktar, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) for Mindanao, said the monitoring done by UN-OCHA showed there was a dire need for water in the shelters, particularly at Don Joaquin F. Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex, where evacuees still lingered.
“Water bladders … will run dry and empty” most of the time, said Muktar in an interview with the Inquirer.
The lack of water in the sports complex, which housed more than 13,000 evacuees, meant more problems, Muktar said.
“I am appealing [to the government] not to ration the water supply because this is like a time bomb. If we do not provide regular water … disease outbreak will likely [occur],” he said.
Dr. Rodelin Agbulos, the city health officer, confirmed that deaths had been occurring in evacuation centers here.
Agbulos said as of February, 92 persons already died from various illnesses, including water-borne diseases.
Muktar said the government had to anticipate cholera cases because “lack of water supply is a recipe for cholera.”
“The IDPs (internally displaced persons) are facing a high risk of cholera outbreak and we are deeply worried about this,” he added.
Al Alfonso, chief of Zamboanga City Water District (ZCWD) technical services division, confirmed that water started to be rationed in the city on March 5 because of a decline in water supply from the ZCWD source, a dam in Pasonanca Lake.
Alfonso said the normal level of water at the dam should be 74.2 meters but it had fallen to 74.1 m as the dry season started to set in.
“We still have water for them (IDPs) but not on a 24-hour basis,” Alfonso said. “We see to it that we can provide water to the entire city,” he said.
Alfonso said cloud seeding was an option that the water utility was looking at. “We have to act immediately … while we still have clouds up there,” he said.
Alfonso said the rainy season was still months away and inducing rain could ease the shortage of water.
Lany de la Cruz, communications officer of Save the Children Zamboanga Emergency Response Unit, said another problem facing the evacuees was power outages.
He said the darkness was the perfect cover “for bad people to exploit the vulnerability of the IDPs.”
“Even with electricity inside evacuation centers, we monitor abuses,” De la Cruz said.
“What more if there are blackouts? Perpetrators will take advantage of the darkness in abusing children and women,” De la Cruz said.
In the early stage of the Zamboanga siege, a girl was raped by an uncle. Several youngsters had since been molested when they used latrines inside the evacuation centers.
“Electricity inside the evacuation centers is vital for the protection and safety of children and women and we do hope that they are spared from these rotational blackouts,” De la Cruz said.
George Ledesma, general manager of Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative, said the available power for the city these days was only 63 megawatts,
18 MW short of the demand.
