All over the province of Camarines Sur in the Philippines, Tropical Storm Trami brought intense rains, triggering flash floods. © Asnairah Solaiman/MSF
Flooding in Brgy Salvacion, Bula, Camarines Sur, Philippines, after Tropical Storm Trami submerged the barangay hall, health center, and daycare center. Floodwaters nearly reached the top of the basketball court wall. © Regina Layug Rosero/MSF
The needs on the ground
Dr. Marve Duka Fernandez, Medical Team Leader of the Doctors Without Borders emergency response, shares what she has seen in Camarines Sur.
“Some of the areas we have visited are just now seeing the flood waters subside. These communities need safe drinking water, and basic medications, because they have been cut off from medical services. Those with chronic diseases have gaps in their maintenance medications. Exposure to flood waters for several days has led to open wounds, fungal infections, and the risks of vector borne diseases such as leptospirosis.
During our debriefing sessions in the community, one of the concerns they most often mentioned was their livelihood. When we offer psychosocial debriefing and they try to look forward to what comes after the flood and the cleanup, they are really thinking about how difficult it will be to build again, because their sources of livelihood—rice fields, farm animals, tools—have been washed away, destroyed.”
Doctors Without Borders' response
Since Doctors Without Borders have been here, our team have done assessments of the worst-hit areas, by coordinating with authorities and then doing actual visits to the communities. Focusing on the municipality of Bula in Camarines Sur, which is ground zero for the flash floods. This municipality is contiguous with the river, and there are tens of thousands of people living in Bula municipality.
We have gone to two barangays (local communities), Fabrica and Ombao Polpog, and have conducted mobile clinics in each, with mental health and psychosocial support sessions for the community, especially the frontliners. We have also distributed hygiene kits, as well as drinking water in jerrycans that can be refilled. We have also done a follow-up in an outlying section of San Miguel and ran mobile clinics in the barangays of Casugad and Salvacion. It's a comprehensive service of clinics, mental health support, hygiene kits, and water distribution to these identified barangays.Dr. Marve Duka Fernandez
The municipality of Bula was one of the hardest hit. During their assessment, the Doctors Without Borders team saw many communities still flooded. Rubber boats were the only way the Doctors Without Borders team reach these communities to assess the needs. © Asnairah Solaiman/MSF
A week later, parts of Barangay Ombao Polpog are still submerged. Where possible, residents are cleaning their homes, washing clothes, documents and furnishings, and drying them under the sun. © Regina Layug Rosero/MSF
In Brgy. San Miguel, volunteers joined the MSF team in the mobile clinic. Local nurses worked on checking blood pressure and triaging patients. © Regina Layug Rosero/MSF
Doctors Without Borders ran a mobile clinic in Brgy. San Miguel. While residents waited for their turn for a medical consultation, mental health professional Sarah Jane De Ocampo conducts a psychoeducation session to help them deal with anxiety, depression or trauma they may be experiencing after the storm. © Regina Layug Rosero/MSF
The municipality of Bula was one of the hardest hit. While the Doctors Without Borders team conducted its mobile clinic in Brgy. San Miguel, volunteers gathered the children for art therapy and group psychosocial support session. © Regina Layug Rosero/MSF
Access and supply are major challenges
When Doctors Without Borders' first arrived, many barangays were still flooded, or the roads to access them were still submerged, and inaccessible for light vehicles. Our team coordinated with local authorities to reach these areas by boat or by truck, so that we could assess the needs, and determine how to transport supplies and our team.
Another challenge is having a full complement of necessary drugs and materials, along with a full team that we can bring to the community. Medicines are an issue, and it's due to a combination of factors. The majority of stores and warehouses here were flooded, and their stocks come from Manila. But there has been very little supply coming through, and there are delays in the deliveries of drugs. The thoroughfares were also flooded, or there have been checkpoints, as well as some security issues. At the same time, the demand in Camarines Sur is quite high, with local people buying drugs because they lost their supply in the floods, so the shelves of these stores were all emptied. That really affects the quality of the services that we provide, because these drugs are critical for the services that we want to bring to the people. What we did is transport our own supply of drugs from Manila.
Working with local volunteers
Dr. Marve Duka Fernandez added, “What's been really positive in Camarines Sur is the presence of volunteers who have come to us from their own associations and hospitals. These are doctors, nurses, volunteers from the local government unit (LGU) and private individuals, who have provided information, resources, and time. We are working with volunteer doctors and nurses from Bicol Medical Center. We are working with nurses from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Rural Health Unit (RHU) of Bula. And whenever we go to the barangays, we are welcomed by barangay health workers (BHWs), who themselves have been flooded, yet they are there for their barangays. We are able to conduct mobile clinics with them, they help with the triaging and consultations, and the dispensing of drugs.”
Over the course of two weeks, Doctors Without Borders has visited and assessed several municipalities in Camarines Sur. In Barangay Sua, Camaligan, Doctors Without Borders distributed 90 jerrycans with safe drinking water to 190 families. Then Doctors Without Borders focused its effort on the municipality of Bula, where our team visited several barangays (or municipalities) to determine the most urgent needs.
In Brgy. San Miguel, Doctors Without Borders distributed 600 hygiene kits and 600 jerrycans filled with clean drinking water. © Regina Layug Rosero/MSF
In the barangays of Fabrica, Ombao Polpog, San Miguel and Casugad, Doctors Without Borders has distributed 700 hygiene kits and 1,110 jerrycans with safe drinking water. Working with local volunteers, Doctors Without Borders has also conducted 1,449 medical consultations and provided psychosocial support to 238 affected people through individual and group sessions in the barangays of Fabrica, Ombao Polpog, San Miguel, Casugad and Salvacion.
Doctors Without Borders has also scheduled mobile clinics and distribution of jerrycans and hygiene kits to the Barangay Salvacion. Doctors Without Borders' intervention ended on November 8 as the most acute phase of the emergency prompting our response has passed.
