PINOY NEWS-BALITA
International aid starts flooding in
MANILA, Philippines - Foreign governments and international organizations have
mobilized relief efforts for the victims of tropical storm “Sendong.”
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners launched an appeal for
$28.6 million for flood victims in Cagayan de Oro, Dumaguete City and Iligan
City.
Acting UN resident and humanitarian coordinator and World Health
Organization (WHO) country director Soe Nyunt-U led the fundraising activity at
the launch of the Emergency Revision of the Philippines (Mindanao) Humanitarian
Action Plan 2012 in Makati.
“The appeal seeks your support for $28.6 million for 15 projects in 10
humanitarian sectors. I am confident that we can achieve the objectives set out
in this responsible plan, if we are fully funded,” Soe said at a press
conference.
Soe said the fund drive is focused on providing clean water for drinking and
bathing, food, emergency shelter and essential household items.
Soe said the Philippine government and the humanitarian country team jointly
assessed the priority needs.
The UN official visited Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities to assess the
situation in the worst affected areas and meet with government representatives,
aid organizations and communities affected by the disaster.
“I was shocked by the scale of destruction. It was as if the cities were hit
by an inland tsunami,” Soe said. “Entire areas were completely flattened; only a
few sturdy buildings remain standing, and these had sustained a lot of damage.
Debris from houses, buildings and other structures that had been destroyed by
the storm was all swept out to the sea, leaving huge areas devoid of all traces
of habitation.”
“The poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions pose a health concern. We
must improve this situation at the soonest possible time to avoid disease
outbreaks that will further compound the hardships of the people already
weakened by hunger, grief from loss of family and friends,” Soe said.
In Iligan City, where two thirds of the 44 barangays have been affected, a
third of water sources are reported as damaged, and there is a citywide lack of
potable water.
As this developed, the Spanish embassy in Manila said that the Spanish
Cooperation Agency for International Development (AECID) will grant 900,000
euros in humanitarian assistance to provide relief to Sendong victims.
AECID will allocate 400,000 euros through its regional office in Caraga in
coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The
emergency aid will be immediately disbursed to purchase food, water, clothing,
emergency kits, shelter materials, blankets and tents among other non-food
items.
The AECID will allocate another 500,000 euros through non-government
organizations – Save the Children, Action against Hunger and the Spanish Red
Cross – in the affected areas. The additional contribution will address
emergency, early recovery and rehabilitation needs of the victims.
Germany is also providing around 500,000 euros to be used to provide hygiene
kits, mosquito nets and other needs of flood victims.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in a statement on Wednesday said
people in the affected areas are fighting for their life and urgently need
assistance.
Germany is continuously monitoring the situation in the Philippines and is
ready to provide more humanitarian assistance, he said.
New Zealand is contributing NZ$500,000 (about P17 million) for tropical
storm victims, Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced.
The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) said it will use the money to
provide food, blankets, water and sanitation, shelter and livelihood assistance
to at least 25,000 people in the worst affected areas.
Meanwhile, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos announced the
release of $3 million for flood victims. He said the grant will be allocated to
three priority sectors – water, sanitation and hygiene; food; and shelter.
He said the humanitarian response plan will be revised within six weeks to
reflect sectoral assessments and evolving humanitarian needs. Shelter
requirements for those whose houses have been destroyed or those who will be
unable to return to their neighborhoods categorized as hazardous and high risk
areas will likely feature in the revision.
Malaysia also extended $100,000 financial assistance for the relief and
rehabilitation of areas affected by Sendong.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato Sri Anifah Aman presented a check for the
amount to Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Eduardo Malaya in a ceremony held at
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Putrajaya.
“Natural calamities cannot be completely avoided but its impact can be
reduced,” Anifah said.
On the same occasion, the Malaysian government extended $100,000 financial assistance each to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, which were similarly affected by floods last October and November.Earlier, Malaysia gave financial assistance to Thailand that was also affected by floods.
The Japanese government turned over more than P14-million (Y25 million)
worth of relief supplies to the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) yesterday.
DSWD Secretary Corazon Soliman received the donation from Japanese
Ambassador Toshinao Urabe during a meeting in her office in Batasan Hills,
Quezon City.
The relief supplies included 20 water tanks, 30 generators, 20 units cord
reel, 1,500 polyester tanks, 30 tents, 1,500 sleeping mattresses, 90 packages of
90 sheets and 1,500 blankets.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will shoulder the
transport cost of the relief items to Cagayan De Oro City.
The DSWD said it will also distribute noche buena packs to the affected
families.
“We hope that this will cheer up the affected families in the midst of their
sufferings as a result of the storm,” Soliman said.
To date, 67,227 families composed of 465,078 persons in 688 barangays in
Regions 7, 9, 10, 11, Caraga and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao have
been affected by the storm.
Saying the flooding in Cagayan de Oro City was a disaster waiting to happen,
Snehal Soneji, country director for the international aid agency Oxfam, called
on President Aquino to work out relocation sites for residents living on
vulnerable areas.
“The relocation process should respect and promote the rights of the
residents affected. The Philippines is highly vulnerable to natural disasters
like typhoons, sea storm surges and tsunamis. People living in vulnerable areas
– for example, housing projects that are almost built at sea level – would be
courting further disaster,” said Soneji.
“The National Risk Reduction and Management Act was passed in 2009 to ensure
that the government goes beyond emergency response and must instead reduce the
risks to disasters and beef up preparedness, which includes early warning
systems, relocation measures, hazards mapping, and sustainable land use plans,”
he said.
“But to be effective, much needed resources should be provided. Government
can start by allocating the P1-billion fund for the National Disaster Risk
Reduction Management Council as mandated by law,” he added.
He said Aquino must also prioritize the passage of the People’s Survival
Fund, a special trust fund that can be directly accessed by local government
units and affected communities hit by calamities. Did Illegal Logging
Cause Flash Flooding in the Philippines?
Philippine President Benigno Aquino ordered an investigation into flash
floods and landslides that sent mud and logs crashing down on residents, killing
about 1,000 people on a southern island.
Most of the casualties were in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and
tens of thousands remain homeless, many sheltering in evacuation centres.
Aquino met officials in the two cities worst hit by the cascades that swept
down mountainsides as residents of riverside and coastal villages slept in the
early hours of Saturday.
"First priority is to relocate to areas that no longer pose a danger to
them," Aquino told a meeting in Cagayan de Oro, issuing instructions to
implement disaster mitigation programmes, including reforestation.
Aquino said he had formed a task force to investigate the reasons behind the
disaster and to determine whether a nationwide logging ban had been violated.
He declared a state of national disaster, a move intended to release greater
funding, and ordered the speedy restoration of power and drinking water supplies
in all affected villages.
"If we want this tragedy to be the last of its kind, we need to learn from
our mistakes," he saidd."
The disaster agency said more than 338,000 people in 13 provinces were
affected by the disaster, with nearly 43,000 still in schools, churches and
gymnasiums.
More than 10,000 houses were damaged by the typhoon and the flash floods, of
which nearly a third were ruined. Many schools, roads and bridges were also
badly damaged.
More than 15 million pesos ($340,000) worth of crops, mostly rice and corn,
were damaged, but the Agriculture department said losses were minimal as the
crops were in the early planting stage.
Aquino said the government can also access funds from multilateral financial
institutions, including $3 million from the Asian Development Bank and about
$500 million in low-interest loans from the World Bank.
Survivors said huge logs thundering down mountainsides crushed residents.
Television footage showed many recovered bodies with arms or hands raised as if
reaching out for help or clinging on to something.
Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were struggling to prevent disease from spreading
in evacuation centres, with construction proceeding quickly of burial vaults and
plots in public cemeteries to bury decomposing bodies.
Iligan has started burying truckloads of bodies, with some family members or
residents of the same villages entombed in a single sepulchre. A Reuters
photographer saw bodies lined up along the highway in Cagayan de Oro outside a
small funeral home.
An official of the British-based Christian relief and development
organisation World Vision said people were fighting for space at evacuation
centres. "It is really overcrowded, there is almost no space in between people,"
group official John Salva told ANC Television. "Diseases are starting to
appear."
The state-run Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said it had warned
authorities in the area last year about the need to relocate families living
along riverbanks that swelled after one month's worth of rainfall fell over the
weekend. (Reuters)
