THE Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has deployed a humanitarian caravan loaded with relief goods and equipment to Marawi City, which has been torn by armed conflict.
PRC Chairman and CEO Richard J. Gordon said the humanitarian caravan will help in the debris-clearing operations and early recovery of Marawi.
The humanitarian caravan, consisting of a fuel tanker, mobile kitchen, payloader and truck loaded with 2,000 units of relief goods, left the PRC’s national headquarters in Mandaluyong last Thursday morning to deliver the equipment and supplies to Marawi.
“True to our mission, we undertake these humanitarian caravans to uplift the dignity of the most vulnerable. With unified and determined action, we shall work as hard and as long as necessary to help Marawi and our fellow Filipinos rise from the rubble and ashes of the conflict,” Gordon said.
The PRC has been continuously providing emergency and relief assistance to affected families on the ground since the crisis started five months ago.
The response, which was done with the help and support of the Red Cross Movement Partners and volunteers, is part of the PRC’s commitment to provide humanitarian assistance and to help families affected by the crisis in Marawi to rebuild their lives.
This is not the first time the PRC sent a humanitarian caravan to Marawi. In August, the PRC, through its local chapters, also deployed its fleet of equipment and emergency-relief supplies to support displaced families.
The PRC is also seeking financial aid for its Marawi recovery and rehabilitation plan, which aims to provide shelter, livelihood, health, water, sanitation and hygiene to families returning to Marawi.
“The road to full recovery and rehabilitation will not be easy. However, we have high hopes that our part in the rehabilitation will be speedy as long as we work together as a Red Cross Movement with a common mission to alleviate human suffering,” Gordon added.
So far, the PRC has provided hot meals to 975 individuals and distributed 9.3 million liters of water to more than 200,000 people affected by the crisis.
Some 31,763 people also received psychosocial support, while more than 7,000 patients benefited from PRC’s Basic Health Care Unit, including 2,127, who needed blood-pressure monitoring.
To ensure the hygiene and sanitation of displaced families, the PRC conducted hygiene promotion to 8,972 people, stationed 20 portalets for some 45,000 individuals, and set up shower facilities that benefitted almost 100,000 evacuees.
PRC also set up 27 welfare desks in Lanao del Norte and Iligan City, and helped 508 individuals locate their missing families.