The Swedish Red Cross will deploy a mass water sanitation Emergency Response Unit (ERU) to Iloilo to help augment limited water supplies in the area after major pipelines were damaged by Typhoon “Frank” last June.
The Philippine embassy in Sweden, in a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, said the Swedish International Cooperation Agency (SIDA) had allocated 5 million Sweden kronors (about $839,000) to fund the operations of the Swedish Red Cross in the Philippines.
The embassy said the last typhoon brought severe damage to Iloilo’s main water pipelines. Other water sources such as deep wells were also damaged by flash floods and contaminated by mud.
Urgent repairs by the province’s local government unit (LGUs) have restored water supplies to some municipalities. 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.
Around 1,121,136 persons, or 226,214 families, in the province have since been affected by the typhoon.
The embassy said the ERU will be composed of at least six to eight specialists and related equipment. They will provide basic sanitation facilities for up to 20,000 beneficiaries and initiate hygiene and health promotion programs.
The ERU forms part of the International Federation’s 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. An ERU is fully self-sufficient for one month and can remain in the field for up to four months.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has made a Preliminary Emergency Appeal of $8 million or 5.1 million euros in cash, kind, or services in response to a request for support from the Philippine National Red Cross. About 16.4 percent of this target amount has been covered as of July 4.
