Medics get to work as Peace Ark sails in

A Chinese hospital ship has arrived to take part in typhoon relief efforts in the Philippines

Mark Yoma, 42, squatted beside a small stack of burning garbage in a deserted street in Tacloban, capital of the Philippine province of Leyte.

He had hoped that the dim light cast by the flames would prompt passersby to buy a few bananas, but no one approached him.

Large areas of the Philippines were ravaged by Super Typhoon Haiyan, which made landfall on Nov 8. The death toll stands at 5,200.

As darkness fell in Tacloban, stray dogs and cats ran though the streets. Electricity has not been restored in many areas of the city.

Yoma said the typhoon destroyed his home, but a few of his banana trees survived. He now relies on donations from international relief agencies, and sells bananas to get a little extra cash.

Chinese arrived in Tacloban on the afternoon of Nov 24 when the hospital ship Peace Ark anchored in Leyte Gulf. By 6 pm, the vessel's medical staff had disembarked by speedboat to begin their work in the devastated city.

With help from the local government, the medics identified a suitable site for a field hospital, and late on Nov 24 three severely injured locals were transported to the Peace Ark for immediate surgery.

One had a fractured thighbone, another had acute appendicitis and the third had necrosis (a form of cell injury) of the lower limbs, brought on by diabetes.

The Peace Ark has 300 sickbeds, eight operating rooms, and carries 1,400 different kinds of disaster relief material weighing in at more than 35 tons. It is also equipped with a helicopter and four speedboats. The ship's medics have the materials required to build a temporary hospital on land, which can contain 50 to 100 beds.

When the typhoon struck, Sarah Cornejo and her two sisters - one of whom has heart disease - were in the family grocery store. The storm blew for the whole day and the sisters could only watch helplessly as the roof of the store was blown away. Cornejo said they huddled together to pray because "only God could help us".

The following day they stayed with a neighbor, but were later transferred to the city's only surviving hospital, where they are recuperating.

"We lost everything in the disaster," said Cornejo, "but at least we have each other." As she spoke, the 18-year-old leaned over her sick sister's bed and waved a white paper fan to drive away the mosquitoes.

Hot and humid, the hospital was flooded with patients, who sat on the ward floors or spilled out into the corridors. Hospital chief Aileen Espina said that when the typhoon first struck, chest-high water flooded the ground floor, forcing staff to move patients to the second floor. The hospital currently has 181 patients, but medical staff and medicine are urgently needed. "Even in these difficult times the hospital is open, but we need more help. I'm glad that the Chinese doctors came to help us," said Espina.

Lyn Wilo, 30, was attending to her sick and frightened 82-year-old grandmother, who is being treated at the hospital. Wilo said the storm was so strong that cracks appeared in their home, allowing rain and seawater to flood the building.

She helped her grandmother to escape from the house and the two women fled to a nearby school. "Thanks to the international aid effort, we now have clean food and water," said Wilo. "But who will help us to repair our houses?"

Song Hongbin is a medical expert aboard the Peace Ark. When he first saw the news of the devastating typhoon on the television, the first thought that entered his mind was: "I can help!"

The 45-year-old expert in infectious diseases at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences' Institute of Disease Control and Prevention, also participated in the 2010 relief efforts in Haiti. He said the locals warmly welcomed the Chinese medical team, whose careful, professional work soon gained them a good reputation. When the team finished its mission, many local people were sad to see the doctors depart, he said.

"When we were sitting on a bus, ready to leave, a middle-aged man held my hand through the window. He had tears in his eyes," said Song. "In Haiti, I saw the devastating effect natural disasters can have on people's lives and how badly the survivors needed help. The people in the damaged areas of the Philippines also deserve care and help from other countries, including China."

Song said he had been waiting for the call to go to the Philippines since he first heard the news about Typhoon Haiyan. On Nov 20, he boarded the Peace Ark, which set sail for the Philippines the next day.

With a medical contingent of 128, backed up by state-of-the-art equipment, the ship's officers planned to begin the relief efforts in Samar, one of the areas worst affected.

The medical team's combined experience of disaster relief and international efforts means it's an elite squad, according to Guan Bailin, the head of the PLA navy's health department.

"We assembled the best team we could in the short time available. The medical help is specifically designed for typhoon relief," he said.

According to Guan, the medical teams cover a number of fields, including the prevention of epidemics, surgery and female health.

Cong Liming, leader of the 13-strong epidemic prevention squad, has a well-defined role. "Preventing epidemics is the most important work in most natural disaster scenarios," he said. "The Peace Ark has the most capable team in this field in China."

Although the typhoon blew itself out more than two weeks ago, the work to prevent epidemics has only just began, said Cong, who added that garbage disposal and the lack of clean water and food are major problems in disaster zones.

"As the amount of garbage grows, the number of pests - bacteria, rats, etc, - will also rise. It's easy for epidemics to break out in these conditions," he said. "There is a lot of work to do, but we have the experience to deal with the situation."

In 2008, Cong participated in relief work after the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan province, when 69,227 people lost their lives.

Of the 6,000 residents in the village in which Cong was stationed, more than 1,000 died. The high body count meant that the threat of an epidemic was very real.

"Most of the bodies had been buried in shallow graves, and some of them had been washed free by the rain. The graves were close to a river that was used as a source of natural water. The supply could have become contaminated, so we immediately reburied the bodies and sterilized the water source. The efficiency of the work saw the incidence of disease in the village fall to a lower level than before the earthquake," he said.

Cong says the team can test the safety of food and drinking water and sterilize 400,000 tons of drinking water. It also has the capability to sterilize an area of 5 million square meters, kill pests across 13 million sq m, and rats in 110,000 sq m.

"Preventing epidemics is long-term work. It still needs to be done a month, or even longer, after the disaster. Our supplies of materials and medicines enabled us to work in Sichuan for at least a month," he said.

During the voyage to the Philippines, the Peace Ark sailed through a force-8 gale that drove the waves to a height of 4 meters. On the rolling decks, the medical staff prepared for the mission with medical drills and lectures on disaster relief.

All the ship's signs and instruction panels have been translated into English, according to Sun Tao, deputy director of the General Hospital of the Chinese Navy, and most of the medical staff speak English.

"Just imagine that you are a local resident in the disaster area and are looking for help from us. What would you want and what would you need?" Sun asked the assembled medical staff, stretching out his arms to counter the pitch and roll of the ship.

According to the World Health Organization, after a flood in the Philippines in 2009, there were more than 1,600 cases of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread via the urine of rats. The outbreak claimed 104 lives. In 2012, more than 300 people were infected with the same disease when a tropical storm caused flooding. Eight people died in that outbreak.

"The Philippines is an island nation. The humid weather provides bacteria and pests with a good environment for survival," said Nie Weimin, an expert in epidemic diseases, who also helped in the Haiti relief efforts. "It's very likely that the disaster areas in the Philippines are at risk of an epidemic."

Nie said a Chinese medical team was the first to help the WHO monitor the incidence of infectious diseases in Haiti. It also taught the locals to monitor themselves so they could retain control when the foreign aid workers departed.

"We are planning to do it again in the Philippines. We will work closely with international organizations, including the WHO, local people and other foreign aid workers," he said. "All our medicines and materials conform to international standards."

However, not all medical conditions prompted by natural disaster are physical, so the Peace Ark's medical team also includes experts in mental health.

Guo Yong, a psychologist at the General Hospital of the Chinese Navy, led a team of more than 80 to help people whose lives were wrecked by the Sichuan earthquake. "It's been five years, but the mental health services are continuing," he said. "It's never too late to provide mental comfort."

Guo said survivors of natural disasters often experience acute mental anguish as they attempt to deal with the loss of their loved ones and their own near-death experiences.

"After more than 20 years working in disaster areas, I understand what the people in the Philippines are going through. Their culture and history may be different to ours, but human nature is the same everywhere," he said. "We will help them as much as we would help people back in China."

This is the Chinese navy's first disaster-relief mission overseas, said Wu Shengli, commander of the PLA navy, who described the mission as a goodwill gesture and a chance for China to fulfill its responsibility as the world's second-largest economy.

In its previous missions, the ship has visited 16 countries and provided free medical services to more than 55,000 people.

The Peace Ark is always ready to provide help overseas, said Rear Admiral Shen Hao, the ship's commander.

When he was summoned for the mission on Nov 18, Shen was unsure of the role the ship would play and did not even know the ultimate destination in the Philippines.

"The only thing we were sure about was that the people caught up in the typhoon would need help, so we prepared to sail as quickly as possible to help those in need."

Zhang Lei contributed to the story

pengyining@chinadaily.com.cn