CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 7, 2012) – Depression continues to hound many victims of the deadly tropical storm Washi in northern Mindanao and the United Nations has called on humanitarian agencies to immediately deploy volunteers for psychological and social interventions.
This after a 32-year old flood survivor, Roy Navarro, killed himself at an evacuation camp in Cagayan de Oro City, one of the worst hit by flash flood last month. Prior to the suicide, the man had an argument with his wife after they were not included in the list of evacuees relocated to a resettlement area in Cagayan de Oro.
Over 1,400 people were killed by the raging floods in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), one of many humanitarian organizations helping the evacuees here and in Iligan City, believed “there really is fear of evacuees killing themselves due to severe depression,” a reason he called on other humanitarian agencies to “immediately deploy volunteers for psycho-social interventions.”
Aside from UNICEF, the Save the Children, Mindanao Tulong Bakwit, Mindanao Emergency Response Network and the Kids for Peace Foundation are among the civil society organizations deploying psycho-social intervention volunteers, some of them are presently undergoing orientation and training for eventual deployment next week. (Romy Elusfa)
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