During December 21 and 30, more than 200 people got injured due to firecrackers and celebratory gunfire in Philippines. Such kind of revelry is not allowed, said a Philippine official.

The majority of people injured were children, while eight got seriously injured due to bullets and other 197 got injured due to firecrackers. This has led the government to issue a warning that people should stop bursting such crackers as they risk their life as well as of those around.

Health Assistant Secretary Enrique Tayag said that despite giving warnings, they feel the number of such incidents would increase as Filipinos is approaching. It is a tradition imbibed from China where it is believed that if people would burst a lot of crackers then the noise coming out of it would help devil, misfortune and other negative feelings to drive away.

The Government has done a lot to bring down such events, and its effect could also be seen. But, the figures are still alarming. In order to make people aware about the aftermath of such celebrations, they took out a campaign in which they showed pictures of mangled hands and eyes.

This time, even policemen are also asked not to fire their guns in order to welcome New Year. But still, some of the policemen were found to be indulging in such practices for which they have been punished.

Tayag said if one is a radical believer of Filipinos then he could get a CD which has thundering sounds. The health department website revealed that till now more than 50,000 people have downloaded firecracker audio files. If not, then they could watch colorful fireworks display at the Public Square.