As of December 2009, official reports estimated the number of IDPs to have ballooned to 174,370 individuals in need of relief assistance in over a hundred evacuation centers all over the province.
Agbulos said the relief and recovery assistance provided for by NGOs and other key players seemed so little but it was largely felt.
KCODE came to the evacuation center bringing essential things such as soaps, blankets, and quilts to protect children from the cold in their makeshift houses.
Together with other relief organizations supported by the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF), KCODE acts as a Partnership Access Center (PAC) that conducts emergency response with other NGOs in Mindanao.
The Sarangani Province Empowerment and Community Transformation Forum, Inc. (Spectrum), another PAC in Southern Mindanao, also helped mobilize relief and recovery activities among IDPs affected by social disorganizations in three municipalities of Sarangani Province in the last quarter of 2009.
Janeth Escobar, Spectrum program coordinator, said NGOs have responded to the basic needs of more than 2,000 IDPs during that time, providing them with galvanized iron sheets used to construct core houses; food packages in evacuation centers; agricultural seeds that helped the IDPs recover their disrupted means of living; and other non-food packages like quilts, health and school kits.
Spectrum also worked with other relief organizations including Lutheran World Relief, Mahintana Foundation Inc., RD Foundation Inc., OND Hesed Foundation, Inc., Alcantara Foundation, Inc., World Vision International (ADP Sarangani), and the Act for Peace Programme.
A common sight at the Maguindanao evacuation sites: children deprived of security.
These humanitarian agencies, provided the resources for the school children’s needs and helped Spectrum conduct relief operations in the selected public elementary schools of Maasim, Kiamba, and Maitum (Makima) and among the identified IDPs in Kanalo village in Sarangani province.
Nene Caspe, PEF program officer in Mindanao, said the partnerships of organizations that extended assistance to the IDPs was a very welcome development. She said it greatly helped the people, since no single organization could respond to all the needs in the evacuation centers.
Caspe, however, acknowledged the need for response on a larger scale because the relief assistance of NGOs could only go so far. She hoped that the community would soon be able to help themselves, so that should similar things happen in the future, they would be equipped enough to help themselves. (Gingging Avellanosa-Valle/ davaotoday.com)
Poverty
