The Philippine Red Cross deployed its hot meals on wheels food truck and a psychological support team to provide much-needed relief to the children and families affected by the New Year fire in Market 3 Brgy. NBBN, Navotas City.
A total of 338 individuals are still in evacuation centers. Aside from hot meals and psychosocial first aid, the volunteers and staff of PRC also provided health and hygiene promotion as well as child-friendly space activities to help the affected children cope with the traumatic experience.
Amidst preparations for the New Year’s Eve celebrations, the Philippine Red Cross immediately dispatched its firefighting volunteers and two teams of emergency medical services (EMS) personnel when a huge fire broke out at Market 3, Brgy. NBBN in Navotas City this afternoon.
The fire broke out around 2:20 PM and immediately blazed through a cold storage facility and a surrounding residential area, hitting the 3rd alarm.
PRC Chairman and CEO Richard J. Gordon immediately dispatched from PRC’s Malabon and Caloocan City Chapters a firetruck with six trained firefighting volunteers, augmented by two ambulance units with six trained EMS personnel to provide first aid support to the area.
“Pinaaalalahanan natin ang ating mga kababayan na mag-ingat at maging mapagmatyag sa anumang pangangib, lalo na ngayong bisperas ng bagong taon,” said Chairman Gordon.
As of press writing, the exact numbers of families and houses affected are still being assessed, but the PRC team on the ground estimates that about 100 houses around the burnt cold storage facility have been affected. The fire was reported to be under control as of 5:45 PM.
PRC will send hot meals and provide other relief items to the affected families once an official evacuation center is established by the local government.
The Philippine Red Cross Malabon Chapter distributed 500 loaves of bread to 350 families in Barangay Hulong Duhat, Malabon City who were affected by two weeks of flooding caused by high tide and damaged floodgates. The bread loaves were donated by Gardenia.
According to the PRC chapter office, the flood subsided on July 1 after the floodgates were fixed, but PRC gave away food to assist the residents whose incomes were adversely affected by the flooding.
Malabon, located in the northern part of the National Capital Region, has a low-lying, flat terrain that makes it a catch basin. It is part of the CAMANAVA area, or Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela, four cities that are commonly affected by interconnected rivers, among them the Tullahan and Navotas Rivers.