One of the most viable response for safe sanitation for the Typhoon Sendong devastated communities is portalets. The solution of international aid agencies coming to assist is this orange (or blue) imported, expensive and utterly useless type of portalets. Utterly useless because nobody knows how to pump the waste out, no vacuum pump is available and it needs a specialized vehicle to carry the effluent. After several days use, all 158 of these were filled to the brim, smells bad, and is a health hazard.
Our solution is portable, dry, urine diverting, dehydration toilets where the only “high technology” is the toilet bowl shown here which we are making ourselves.
One toilet can be installed within 3 hours. It can be transported where the victims are.
Aside from installing, we do capacity-building and advocacy, waste management and recycling and eventually using the waste as valuable fertilizer for small farmers.
Our main concern now is the thousands of survivors coming back to what is left of their homes without sanitation at all both in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. Shown here are our portalets quickly installed where the survivors are returning. Our aim is to prevent a second wave of tragedy which is water-borne epidemic caused by open defecation.
The award we got from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a winner. People believe in our approach when I say we are backed-up by a prestigious award.
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