TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, Jan. 22 (PIA) - - Various government and non-government organizations in the Cagayan Valley Region extended help to Taal Volcano displaced families.

Now on their fifth day, the Cagayan Valley-Center for Health and Development (CV-CHD) Response Team of the Department of Health here is extending medical and various support activities to evacuees.

Health Education Program Officer II Pauleen Atal said on their first day, they were welcomed and briefed by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) of Batangas and deployed them at Inosluban Elementary School and Inosluban National High School in Lipa City.

The CV-CHD headed by Dir. Rio Magpantay is composed of two teams with 37 manpower.

Each team is composed of clusters namely Medical Consultation Team; Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, Nutrition in Emergencies Team; Sanitation and Hygiene Team; Health Promotion Team and Surveillance Team.

During their second day, Atal said they were able to provide medical consultations to the victims along with other healthcare service providers from different regions.

"We were able to serve three different evacuation centers in Lipa City and Malvar, Batangas, to cater to medical services, mental health and psychosocial support, disease surveillance, nutrition in emergencies, and water-sanitation and hygiene, along with the distribution of donated goods and logistics to the people," Atal further said.

Atal added that on the third day, the team moved to Santo Toribio Elementary School, still in Lipa City, to facilitate medical consultations and provision of medicines to patients seeking medical attention.

The Medical Consultation and Nutrition in Emergencies team facilitated the assessment of the nutritional status of children in the evacuation centers.

Recreational activities to promote health of children was conducted by the Health Promotion Team as well as the conduct of survey within the perimeter of the evacuation centers and destroyed potential breeding sites of mosquitoes. This according to Atal will prevent the possible occurrence of vector-borne diseases.

The Surveillance Team also conducted epidemiologic investigation of cases involving suspected viral diseases.

Atal said they will be in the area as long as their services are need.

Last week, team Cagayan Valley Medical Center also sent their Response Team in the area while other groups like the Nueva Vizcaya Agricultural Terminal, Inc (NVAT) and the Department of Agriculture donated three truckloads of various vegetables to the victims. The provincial government of Nueva Vizcaya also launched its donation drive that seeks to generate goods for the displaced villagers in Batangas.

Isabela province also gave 2,000 bags of rice as assistance while Garaw Tuguegarao composed of various groups like the Junior Chamber International - Ybanag, Bloggers of Tuguegarao and Bureau of Fire Protection Tuguegarao, in partnership with SM Tuguegarao City Downtown staged the "Tala for Taal", a dance for a cause activity of which proceeds will be given to victims of the eruption. (ALM/MDCT/GVB/PIA 2-Cagayan)