Taal Donation: Water, Medicine and Hygiene Kits for Taal Volcano Eruption Victims

On January 12, 2020, the Taal Volcano, one of the lowest and deadliest volcanoes in the world, suddenly spewed ash and lava fountains on Monday, January 13. The volcano is currently on Alert Level 4, meaning a more hazardous eruption is still imminent.

At least 9,508 families or 40,126 persons remain in evacuation centers, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Most of our team hail from Batangas so it was easy for us to decide that we want to help. We need to help. Some of our members already went to the evacuation centers to assess the needs of the people there and here’s what we’ve gathered:

- Drinking water

Despite the relief efforts, many families are still in need of water. Instead of 350 ml bottled waters, many are requesting for at least 5-L water containers which could be more conveniently shared within a family.

- N95 mask

Our team noticed that despite government warning, most of the evacuees are not wearing N95 masks. N95 masks are required to prevent the evacuees from inhaling particles from volcanic ash which can be very detrimental to health. At least one N95 mask is needed for each family to be worn by heads when they go out of the evacuation centers for work or personal errands.

- Medicine

They are in need of medicine for fever, cough, colds, body pain, allergies and stomach discomfort, as well as oral rehydration salts.

- Hygiene items

Alcohol, face towel, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush and soap are also needed to help families maintain their hygiene.

Families who were gravely affected and are from hard-to reach areas will be prioritized (Families from Agoncillo, Laurel, San Nicolas, Taal, Talisay and Santa Teresita), a total of 1,296 families.

Each of the family of evacuees will receive a kit which we will call a Family Health and Dignity Kit containing the following items:

- 1 x 6-L water container

- 1 N95 mask

- Medicine kit containing cetirizine tablets for allergies, ibuprofen tablets for body pain, lagundi tablets which are more preferred by evacuees to drink for cough, loperamide to address stomach discomfort caused by diarrhea, oral rehydration salts to prevent dehydration, paracetamol tablet and suspension for fever, and phenylephrine (Disudrin) for colds in children

- Hygiene kit containing 1 bottle of rubbing alcohol, 1 face towel, 1 deodorant, 1 toothpaste, 3 toothbrushes, and 3 soap bars

We’ve made our canvass and have decided to purchase non-medicine items from one superstore here in our area which can deliver items to us for free. Medicine will be purchased through a medicine-delivery service app here and for which we will shoulder the delivery costs.

The total cost of all items in one Family Health and Dignity Kit is 1,012.05 Philippine pesos (PHP). Thus, we intend to raise a total of 1,311,616 PHP so we can completely deliver a total of 1,296 Family Health and Dignity Kits for the 1,296 families who are most affected by the Taal Volcano eruption and belong to hard-to-reach areas.

We humbly ask for your donation to help us reach our goal.

For offline donations, you may transfer money to:

BPI account number 0463890781

BDO account number 007990004795

We plan to start distributing Family Health and Dignity Kits as soon as we receive enough amount to produce 100 kits. By the end of the campaign, whether we reach our goal or not, all money raised will be used to produce corresponding number of kits which will be personally distributed by our team to the families

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.