Albay sends assistance to cholera-stricken Catanduanes

The Albay provincial government has dispatched another humanitarian mission to Catanduanes to help victims of cholera-diarrhea epidemic in the province.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda sent its Water and Sanitation Team (WATSAN), called Team Albay, to complement emergency response operation to Catanduanes where 18 persons had already died and over 3,000 residents affected in four towns.

Salceda said he responded to a request by Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Cua, who reported the epidemic outbreak in the towns of Pandan, Viga, San Andres and the capital town Virac, which recorded the highest number of casualties.

Team Albay took off with eight personnel headed by Dr. Nathaniel Rempillo of the Albay Provincial Health Office, bringing along their water purifying machine which can filter and decontaminate 33,000 liters of water an hour.

The water purifying machine is the team’s main weapon as the Catanduanes problem was caused by contaminated drinking water.

The machine was donated by the Spanish government through the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional Para el Desarrollo (AECID) and the Spanish International Cooperation Agency for Development.

Team Albay had been to the disaster stricken areas of Isabela and Iloilo after typhoon Frank; Bagong Silangan in Quezon City during typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng; and lately in Cagayan de Oro after Sendong.