Four weeks since fierce fighting broke out in the southern Philippines, some people who fled the battle are dying in over-crowded and unsanitary evacuation centers, health officials say. At least 24 people have died in the centers since fighting between security forces and militants erupted in Marawi City, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said. Alinader Minalang, the health director for the Lanao del Sur province which includes Marawi, said 300 cases of diarrhea had been recorded among the nearly 40,000 people huddled in emergency shelters set up in community halls, gymnasiums and schools. Many of those who died were elderly and had pre-existing conditions, but at least two of the fatalities were due to diarrhea. "The cause of the increase in diarrhea cases is sanitation issues and a lack of sources of potable water," Minalang said. In the centers, families of up to a dozen people sleep together on concrete floors, and in some places hundreds are sharing a single toilet. "My children are getting sick. One has diarrhea and another has an allergic reaction on his skin — the water we have to use here is not good," said Tarhata Mostare, who was staying with more than 800 people in a high school hall in Iligan City, 40 km from Marawi. She walked out of Marawi City along with thousands of others just hours after delivering her fifth child, and trekked for hours with the infant swaddled in cloth and her own traditional malong, or long skirt, drenched in blood. "We call him Martial Law," she said, looking at her baby boy Sahir, his head now crowned with fine hair. On the date of Sahir's birth, May 23, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the southern island of Mindanao, vowing to drive out the militants. The army says nearly 350 people have been killed in the fighting, including 257 militants, 62 soldiers and 26 civilians. Hundreds of people are unaccounted for, believed to be hiding in the basements of a city that has been pummeled by government air strikes. Residents have said they have seen 100 bodies in the debris of ruined homes in the battle zone. The mostly Muslim evacuees are eager to return home by the weekend for Eid Al-Fitr, the biggest festival of the year that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. But for many, their homes have been devastated by weeks of artillery fire and aerial bombardment. The army says it is nearing victory, but hostilities will have to be followed by a lengthy cleanup operation — unearthing and disarming unexploded ordnance, and scouring for possible booby traps — before residents can go home. "I will be the happiest woman in the world if I am allowed to return," said Salema Ampasong, 28, who was among about 1,000 evacuees given shelter in a gymnasium in the town of Balo-i, several miles outside Marawi. A fruit vendor, she said she had lost all her possessions, "but I would still want to come home." — Reuters
