BACOLOD City – The Department of Education (DepEd) in Bacolod City is being urged to provide adequate safety precautions and measures to ensure the safety of students and faculty against the effects of extreme heat brought by the El Niño phenomenon.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) passed a resolution on this during a regular session last week.
Councilor Claudio Jesus Puentevella, chair of the SP committee on health, cited the state weather bureau’s bulletin dated December 20, 2023, which states that strong El Niño is expected to continue through December to January 2024 and that the majority of global climate models suggest El Niño will likely persist until March, April, and May 2024.
Here, Dr. Grace Tan, chief of the City Health Office’s Environment Sanitation Division, reiterated the Department of Health’s reminders on ways for the public to cope with El Niño.
She urged everyone to conserve water and use it wisely, protect water sources from contamination, drink more fluids, listen to the updates on the shellfish ban, wear light clothing, and avoid strenuous physical activities.
The agency also cited the effects of El Niño on health, which include diseases related to water scarcity or shortage, such as diarrhea and skin diseases; red tide blooms (paralytic shellfish poisoning); and heat cramps, exhaustion, exertional heat injury, and stroke./PN