Sitting by the window of a classroom-turned-shelter, watching her seven kids play around, Samira Endosan said it is exactly where she was hit by shrapnel one week ago, right after the end of Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
"We just finished dinner and I was making coffee. Suddenly, Bang! Something dropped into the shallow filthy swamp outside the room," she said, revealing the cotton-swab-covered wounds close to the back spine.
"I am scared and worried about my baby," said the 38-year-old mother pregnant with her eighth child.
In August, Samira fled home with seven children to join the thousands of evacuees camping out in the Datu Gumbay Piang Center Elementary School for temporary shelter, when the government and rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim rebel group, engaged in a prolonged and fierce fire-fight.
At the height of the clashes, nearly half a million people were displaced in the Muslim Mindanao region to avoid the deadly conflict.
According to data released by Philippine National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), 91 people have been killed so far, including scores of civilians.
To date, to most of the 40,000 displaced villagers who stay in Datu Piang, a riverside town with almost the same number of population, returning home is still a luxury.
"Of course I want to go home, but it is impossible because of the heavy fighting. We haven't got clearance to go back," Samira said.
Norhata Sawal, another pregnant woman who stayed in a roadside tent for make-shift shelter near Datu Piang town proper, said over the month, she went back home every five days as long as the fighting receded a bit.
But she only dared to stay in the house for no more than five minutes.
"Houses were burnt and occupied, uniformed men were around. I am so frightened and really don't know when I can return." Sawal, who is five months into pregnancy, said she was not even sure whether she could have the baby born in her home.
COPING WITH WORST
Humanitarian agencies and some local officials branded the current situation the worst since 2003 and have gathered resources as much as possible to cope with it.
"The conflict has been on for decades, it is nothing new. But this time the fighting has seriously escalated and has lasted longer, which resulted in a drastic increase of the number of people being displaced," said Perry Proellochs, delegate of International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) in central Mindanao.
He said the plight of the conflict displaced is worsened by heavy rains and flood in the past two weeks. At times, Datu Piang,with massive evacuees' presence, has become an isolated town with one road being rendered impossible for traffic by floods and the other being constantly affected by armed conflict.
ICRC said its team in Mindanao has been augmented ten times and they have assisted over 140,000 people with food, medical supplies, clean water and sanitation facilities. The World Food Program, on the other hand, has also donated more than 2,200 metric tons of goods.
In its latest report in October, NDCC said the combined value of the assistance given by the government, non-government-organizations and UN agencies has amounted to more than 149 million pesos (3.13 million U.S. dollars).
"Thanks to the timely response of a functioning government and assistance pledged by various humanitarian agencies, a humanitarian crisis in Mindanao has been avoided," said Felipe Donoso, head of the ICRC delegation in Manila.
But Donoso said it doesn't mean there is no conflict-incurred humanitarian consequence and in fact ICRC is prepared for, in case, the worse to come in the months that follow.
SYSTEM STRAINED
With the sudden influx of evacuees, Datu Piang is now an appalling picture of crowds of dirt poor families, living in very basic conditions, scattered all over the place. At first, it was just the open ground, parks and schools, but soon the police station, the hospital and street sides were brimming with shelter tents.
"You see, now it is full of people," Katiguia Gabinay, the municipality's only sanitarian inspector told Xinhua. She said besides the 26 evacuation centers, almost every local family in Datu Piang is receiving some displaced villagers who came for shelter.
Determined to embrace the open-door policy towards total strangers of the evacuees, Datu Piang officials admitted that the resources and accommodating ability are under severe test, despite the pledged support from upper levels of the government and various humanitarian agencies.
Gabinay said just this Wednesday at least one woman died of heat stroke in Datu Gumbay Piang Center Elementary School after lining up long hours under scorching sun for her portion of food.
"Too many people queuing up for food. Too many. It is sad that she died but we couldn't do anything," Gabinay said.
The strain is more visible in the health sector. In Datu Piang, fewer than 30 regular health workers and volunteers have been taking shifts, one for 24-hour, to monitor health conditions and treat the sick of the 40,000 evacuees.
Dr. Elizabeth Samama, deputy health chief of Maguindanao province, said the health sector of the whole province is seriously understaffed and medical supplies, though enough for the moment, is only good for two weeks' consumption.
"We are already overworked, if the conflict drags on for months, our supplies would be depleted and our staff would be exhausted," she said.
Altogether 151 cases of measles were recorded in the province's9 areas with heavily congested evacuation centers, Samama said, adding that there is not yet an outbreak of diseases but the health sector is prepared for the worst case scenario.
"The situation has become so complicated for the both parties of the conflict can no longer trust each other." Samama said. "When there is no trust, how can we have peace?"
WHEN WILL IT END
Samama's sentiment is shared by many local officials and residents who witnessed the clashes over the decades.
"I think it is going to be worse," Bai Fatima Sinsuat, a senior local Red Cross official, said sadly over an event to distribute rice and other relief materials to 782 displaced families in Dapiawan.
Sinsuat, chairwoman of the board of directors of Cotabato Red Cross, said she suspected the army would scale up clearance operation in areas near Dapiawan, considered a strong-hold of wanted MILF sub-commander Ameril Ombra Kato.
The government has placed 10 million pesos (210,526 U.S. dollars) on Kato's head and has ordered the military to spare no effort in pinning him down.
The government and the army have repeatedly vowed to clamp down upon insurgency and armed rebellion in Mindanao by 2010. The administration in September dissolved its peace talk panel to end the seven-year peace negotiation with the 12,000-strong MILF.
The military has since then stepped up the operation to "neutralize" Kato and two other MILF sub-commanders, whom were accused by the government of looting a string of Christian villages in August and ignited the escalation of clashes.
Overlooking thousands of evacuees lining up for food in Dapiawan Central Elementary School, Sinsuat said the conflict has been non-stop and put life of thousands of local residents in great danger.
"I pity them. And I keep asking myself when will this tragedy come to an end?" She sighed.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article