Husband and wife Pablito and Carmelita Taghap, 66 and 65 years old respectively, who live in Cahayag, Tubigon, Bohol were left homeless after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Central Visayas on October 15, 2013, totally damaged their house, along with the other homes and structures in their community. Without a place to go, the couple lived in a makeshift tent for a while, which made their situation very difficult especially when typhoon Yolanda struck Bohol the following month.
When the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) stepped in to provide core shelter and shelter repair assistance, they were among the selected families who became beneficiaries of the core shelter project. Pablito, a farmer, and Carmelita, a tailor, actively assisted the skilled workers in building their home. They were very thankful to the PRC for their new home, which they said they would not be able to build by themselves from their meager earnings.
Pablito and Carmelita are just two of the individuals reached by the recovery projects of the PRC and partners in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in Bohol. A year and four months after, PRC’s recovery operations in Bohol ended in February after completing all its target projects for all affected communities in the province.
Shelters, hygiene and sanitation
At the end of PRC’s recovery efforts in Bohol, a total of 304 core shelters or full houses were constructed. To help build damaged houses and structures, 100 carpenters and masons were given training and 1,700 shelter repair kits were provided through conditional cash grants.
Along with construction and repair of damaged structures, the PRC also focused on hygiene and sanitation in schools and communities with the construction of school latrines, supported with hygiene and sanitation trainings in schools and communities. Ten water and sanitation (WatSan) latrines were constructed in public schools, while a total of 2,883 pupils were reached through children hygiene and sanitation transformation (CHAST) sessions. To ensure that proper hygiene and sanitation are observed in schools, 80 individuals were given CHAST training for school-based WatSan committees.
Similarly, families and health volunteers participated in participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation (PHAST) sessions to help prevent the spread of diseases in communities affected by the earthquake. A total of 6,025 families and 96 community health volunteers participated in PHAST training.
PRC emergency earthquake response
In the wake of the tremor, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) was one of the first agencies to provide emergency response through rescue and transport of casualties in hospitals, first aid management, provision of food and necessary non-food items for displaced families in evacuation centers, clean water, health and hygiene promotion, and welfare assistance such as psychosocial support, guidance and counseling, tracing and restoration of family links, and referrals.
The earthquake left 225 people dead, almost a thousand injured, thousands of people displaced, and damaged 73,000 structures including homes, buildings, roads, bridges, churches, air and sea ports, hospitals, and local government structures in both Cebu and Bohol.