St. John Ambulance Malaysia has contributed 52,000 water purification tablets to help typhoon victims in the Philippines get clean water supply.
When dropped into water, the tablets would produce hypoclorous acid or dry chlorine.
This could kill bacteria and prevent waterborne diseases such as hepatitis, cholera, typhoid and dysentery, which were likely to break out after Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) typhoons, wreaked havoc in the Philippines last month and last Saturday respectively, affecting millions of people and killing hundreds.
St John Ambulance commander-in-chief Datuk Dr Low Bin Tick said the supply could benefit at least 5,000 families with a strip of 10 tablets for a family.
“One tablet can sterilise a litre of water and last two to three days.
Doing our part: Low (fourth from left) showing the product to Lecaros(third from right). With them are St.John honorary treasurer Hoh Hee Ooi(second from right) and other St John staff members.“The typhoon victims had suffered a lot. We don’t want them to get into further misery,” he said when presenting the contribution to the Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Victoriano M. Lecaros at the Philip-pines Embassy recently.
“Although we won’t be able to help more, we hope that this will inspire other organisations to come forward to help,” Low said.
Lecaros expressed appreciation to St John for the initiative and assured that the supply would reach those who really need it in the Philippines.
“It’s not just a matter of sending the consignment. We have to ensure that the consignment is not misplaced or damaged and somebody is there to receive it,” he said, adding that Malaysia was paving the way in doing good for its neighbouring countries hit by natural disasters.
On the third wave of typhoon, which may be on its way, he said: “So far, the winds are not as threatening. There are more lessons to be learnt. There is a link to global warming.”
He also said that life went on as usual as schools reopened and students went back to school even though some of the buildings were damaged by the typhoon.
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