According to the latest figures, the death toll from the earthquake that struck the Philippines on Monday, June 8, stands at 45 dead and 630 injured, as rescue efforts continue to search for missing people.
Three days after the powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Mindanao island on Monday, June 8, in the south of the country, tens of thousands of people remain housed in emergency shelters. millions of schoolchildren will not be able to return to classes.
The earthquake, which ranks among the most violent recorded in the Philippines in recent years, struck while students were returning to school. According to authorities, four million children are now deprived of schooling.
“It is hard for these children. They have witnessed the destruction of their schools,” explains Faisah Ali, humanitarian coordinator for Save The Children in Mindanao. According to her, some children are still being treated in hospitals. “They are traumatized and, even though the alert has been lifted, they still fear a tsunami in coastal areas,” she notes.
Overcrowded relief centers
The Philippine government has recorded more than 32,000 displaced people spread across about fifty emergency shelters, all at capacity. “Usually, we use schools to shelter evacuees. But we cannot use them all because we first need to assess whether the buildings pose a danger,” explains Faisah Ali. According to her, “five to ten families can end up crammed into a classroom.”
Others live “in tents and makeshift shelters, exposed to the elements,” she adds, while “the rain is pounding and the heat index is very high.” Save The Children estimates that it will take between three and six months before children can return to school.
