Enduring pain after rebel attack in Zamboanga City : ....... Posted at 09/08/2014 3:43 PM ZAMBOANGA - Thousands of people displaced by a Muslim rebel assault on a major Philippine city are enduring squalid conditions in an evacuation camp where dozens have died, while the guerilla leader remains free one year on. The attack by Moro National Liberation Front gunmen triggered three weeks of urban battles with the military in Zamboanga, a southern port city, which left more than 240 people dead. As Zamboanga this week marks one year since the conflict began, about 11,000 people whose homes were destroyed are still living in the citys sports stadium, where atrocious conditions are regularly claiming lives. Life is difficult here. You have to line up to draw water from the faucet, said housewife Vilma Diosma, 43, who shares a tent with her young sons and another family at the sports stadium. If you want to use the toilet you have to queue up, and bring your own pail of water to flush. My children are really suffering. Pneumonia, dysentery and other illnesses generated by the slum-like conditions have claimed 168 lives over the past year, according to Rodelyn Abulos, who is in charge of the citys health services. He said most of the deaths occurred in the first few months after the conflict when the makeshift evacuation camp was more crowded, but diseases linked to the poor conditions were still killing people. Portable toilets are so scarce that there is an average of one for every 50 people, according to the city government, while children walk along muddy paths amid flimsy shanty homes on what used to be the grass of the stadium.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 10:06:01 +0000
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