LEGAZPI CITY—Spain has given Albay another water filtration machine for use in calamity stricken areas where potable water is scarce, through its aid agency, the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo.
The water filtration machine is the third the Spanish government has given Albay since a partnership in disaster risk reduction was formally forged between them about nine years ago. The machines were on top of various other grants such as permanent evacuation centers that also serve as classrooms.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, elated over the new grant, said their viable partnership with Spain has gone a long way, and has greatly benefited Albay and helped pursue excellence in governance, particularly in the field of DRR and Climate Change Adaptation.
Of the 11 evacuation centers cum classrooms built in Albay, five were funded by Spain. These facilities have remained impressive, well maintained and useful, and were personally inspected by Spanish Queen Sofia herself during her Albay visit in 2013, Salceda said.
The water filtration machines, on the other hand, have proven to be indispensable equipments of the Water and Sanitation Unit of Team Albay, during its emergency response operations in many calamity stricken areas of the country, where potable water supply disrupted and urgently vital.
“Team Albay would not be where it is now, a multi-awarded emergency response group, without the water filtration machines which provided many disaster victims safe water,” Salceda stressed.
Albay received its third Galing Pook Award in 2015 through Team Albay. In all of its 13 humanitarian missions from 2008 to 2014 alone, the team had served some 103,642 families involving 518,208 persons and the water filtration machines have produced 4,863,612 litters of potable water for them.
Salceda said the Albay-AECID partnership goes beyond mere benefactor-beneficiary relationship. Following the devastation by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in 2014, the Department of Interior and Local Government and AECID have teamed up to replicate Albay’s successful DRR strategy in at least 10 other provinces of the country.