By PNA
GENERAL SANTOS CITY — South Cotabato province recorded a significant decrease in firecracker-related injuries during the Christmas and New Year revelries, with only 20 confirmed cases recorded as of Thursday (January 3).
Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr., head of the South Cotabato Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), said the figure represented a 60-percent decrease compared to recorded cases in previous holidays.
Aturdido said Koronadal City posted the most number of injuries with five, followed by Banga with four; Norala and Surallah with three each; Tampakan with two; and Lake Sebu, Tupi and Sto. Nino with one each.
The youngest victim was four years old while the oldest was 45 years old, he said, adding that majority of the victims were aged 10 years old and below.
“Most of the injuries sadly happened in the households and involved children who clearly needed supervision by their parents,” Aturdido said.
He said 17 of the victims sustained burns from firecrackers and fireworks while three had eye injuries.
Records show that nine of the injury cases were caused by illegal firecrackers and fireworks such as “triangle, flying rocket, and piccolo”.
Meanwhile, legally-sold firecrackers such as “sparklers” and “skyrocket” injured eight people.
Aturdido attributed the drop in injury cases to the government’s intensified campaign against the use of firecrackers.
“People are now more aware of the hazards of using firecrackers and fireworks and we’re hoping that we can eventually further lower, if not eliminate, these injury cases,” he added.
