Southeast Asia: Typhoon Durian - Dec 2006

INTRODUCTION

This publication is an initiative of the Regional Consultative Group (RCG) on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination for Asia and the Pacific. The RCG seeks to not only link the region with the Global Consultative Group on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination, but also to provide a learning platform for good practice. This publication focuses on Asia and the five priority countries in this region that are highly vulnerable to large-scale natural disasters: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, and the Philippines.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration 3 Nock-Ten (Nina) (PAGASA), the Philippines is prone to tropical cyclones due to its geographical location which generally produce heavy rains, flooding of large areas and also strong winds which result in heavy casualties to human life and destruction to crops and properties. On average, the country is frequented by 20 tropical cyclones annually, almost half of which made landfall.

• Despite impressive progress to address poverty and food insecurity, climate-related hazards could threaten these hard-won development gains.

• Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the central part of the country in November 2013, and more recently Typhoon Hagupit are testament to the potentially devastating effects of climate on food security and vulnerable livelihoods.

• Better understanding of climate risks and their impact on household food security is a critical first step for managing and reducing risks.

by Ed de Leon

LEGAZPI CITY, Mar 2 (PIA) - The Regional Development Council (RDC) has endorsed last week the budget proposed for funding next year by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office for the construction of additional Sabo structures around critical areas down slopes of Mayon volcano to mitigate the destructive flow of lahar in times of heavy rains.

DPWH regional director Danilo Dequito said during the RDC full council meeting that the proposed Sabo dams will be constructed along the volcano gullies flowing down streams the rivers of Yawa in this …

IOM yesterday handed over a Humanitarian Response Monitoring System (HRMS) to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The HRMS, funded by the European Community Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO), was originally rolled out by IOM in 2006 to address information management issues in the emergency response to Super Typhoon Reming.

In 2009, the system was modified and rolled out again in response to the complex emergency in Central Mindanao and remains the key tool used by aid agencies in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Camp Coordination and Camp Management …

By Erik Olsson in Camarines Sur province, Philippines

"First there was heavy rain, then came the wind. Our makeshift shelter was shaking. All of the children were screaming and crying and we began to pray. I was scared the trees would fall on our house and injure my children."

Even though well over two years have passed since Typhoon Durian (known locally as Reming) struck the shelter of rice farmer Expedito Hernandez and his family, he vividly recalls the ordeal.

A few days before Durian made landfall, Hernandez heard radio warnings that a typhoon was approaching.

GLIDE no TC-2006-000175-PHL

Period covered by this Final Report: October 2006 to December 2008;

Appeal target (current): CHF 9,878,867 (USD 9.67 million or EUR 6.28 million);

Final Appeal coverage: 98%;

Appeal history:

- Preliminary emergency appeal launched on 2 October 2006 for CHF 5,704,261 (USD 4,563,408 or EUR 3,610,292) to assist 126,000 beneficiaries for three months.

- Appeal revised on 19 October 2006 to update plans and extend the operation timeframe to nine months.

CPV: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on December 8 said that is it providing a 25.5 million USD supplementary financing to an existing emergency assistance loan to Vietnam for the rehabilitation of rural infrastructure severely damaged by typhoons and storms in 2005.

The project was initially approved in 2006 by ADB with a loan of 50.97 million USD. However, high inflation has increased the cost of civil works, materials, and labor.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing a $25.5 million supplementary financing to an existing emergency assistance loan to Viet Nam for the rehabilitation of rural infrastructure severely damaged by typhoons and storms in 2005.

The project was initially approved in 2006 by ADB with a loan of $50.97 million. However, high inflation has increased the cost of civil works, materials, and labor. Additional damage to rural infrastructure caused by typhoons in 2006 and 2007 has contributed to significant cost overruns.

Executive Summary

Viet Nam is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. The government's impressive achievements in pulling millions of people out of poverty are seriously jeopardised by the likely increase in extreme weather events such as severe rainfall and drought, and by slow climate changes like sea level rises and warming temperatures.

Rising sea-levels, more intense typhoons, higher temperatures and increased flooding and drought threaten to drag millions of Vietnamese people back into poverty, an Oxfam report reveals today.

In the report, Viet Nam: Climate Change, Adaptation and Poor People, Oxfam shows how Viet Nam has led the way to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 but how the country, identified as among the ten most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change, is set to see this success reversed unless urgent …

Legazpi City (11 November) -- The Italian government has infused around P26 million for various projects in the province of Albay as part of their assistance to the devastation wrought by Typhoon Reming in 2006.

Started in October 2007, the Italian cooperation program was able to build around 180 houses for the displaced families in the municipalities of Camalig and Guinobatan in Albay.

The total cost for the construction of the housing units iamounted to P14 million.

Aside from permanent shelter for the displaced families the program also constructed two livelihood …

From the Editor

Issue 34 of Field Exchange has a special focus on infant and young child feeding in emergencies (IFE) and is dedicated to the memory of Tom Marchione.

Leading the IFE 'show' is an extended field article from the UNICEF team in Indonesia, sharing their IFE experiences in the aftermath of the earthquake in 2006. On reading the piece you may well get that 'deja-vu' feeling - mass arrival and untargeted distribution of infant formula, milk powder, and commercial baby foods to mothers and children. Monitoring was almost non-existent.

The homes of over 15,000 families that were destroyed by typhoons and other natural calamities were rebuilt and repaired in record time under the shelter program of Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) headed by Chairman and CEO, Sen. Richard Gordon.

"Most people can only imagine the almost unspeakable suffering endured by people who have lost their homes in typhoons, mudslides or floods.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie A. Kenney today handed over to Typhoon Reming survivors the last of 907 permanent homes built by IOM in partnership with USAID.

The handover at two separate ceremonies in Sta. Eulalia, Baao, Camarines Sur and in Bungkaras Village, Tagaytay, Camalig, Albay mark the end of the IOM Bicol Core Permanent Shelter and Community Revitalization Assistance Project targeting five of the communities worst affected by the super-typhoon in late 2006.

In addition to housing, the project has also built multi-purpose community centres in Sta.

U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
BUREAU FOR DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE (DCHA)

IOM has tapped staff at multinational food chain McDonalds to help paint hundreds of new homes built by IOM and USAID in Guinobatan, Albay, for families displaced by Typhoon Reming in 2006.

A group of ten volunteers from the local branch of McDonalds in Legazpi started work on Saturday to help paint completed homes built by the IOM-USAID Bicol Core Permanent Shelter and Community Revitalization Assistance Project.

The 12-month project, funded by USAID and based in Albay and Camarines Sur, is contributing to the Philippine Government's sustainable recovery program for Typhoon …

by EE Jerusalem

Legazpi City (12 August) - The kind and quality of care given during the first six years of life determine what a child will be as a youth or as an adult.

Parents have the primary responsibility to provide this care but many parents, however, are not able to provide their children with proper home surroundings for some reasons such as being a working couple, emotionally immature parents, or having a poor environment.

This situation led to the establishment of Day-Care Service by the government through the Department of Social Welfare and Development …

The UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) has delivered vegetable seeds and farm tools to two new permanent shelter sites built by IOM and USAID for families made homeless by Typhoon Reming in November 2006.

The project, in collaboration with the Spanish government and the Philippine Department of Agriculture, delivered 150 packs of vegetable seeds and farm tools including 30 shovels, 15 rakes, 15 hoes and 75 trowels to the resettlement communities of Arandurugan-Kenney Village in Mauraro, Guinobatan, and Bungkaras Village in Tagaytay, Camalig.

The tools will be kept by the …

IOM, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Provincial Government of Albay yesterday handed 60 houses in Mauraro, Guinobatan and 50 houses in Tagaytay, Camalig to survivors of Typhoon Reming.

The handover ceremony was attended by Albay Governor Joey Sarte Salceda, USAID Acting Deputy Director Daniel Moore and representatives from the Albay Mabuhay Task Force, National Housing Authority, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Office of Civil Defense, Save the Children and IOM.

IOM has now constructed 197 typhoon-resistant new homes and …