Philippines: Landslides and Floods Appeal No. 03/04 Operations Update no. 5

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In Brief

Appeal No. 03/04; Operations Update no. 05; Period covered: 03 October 2004 to 03 November 2004; Appeal coverage: 99.5%.

Appeal history:

Launched on 07 January 2004 for CHF 853,000 (USD 692,989 or EUR 544,144) for 06 months for 565 beneficiary families;

Budget revised to CHF 358,500 and 300 beneficiary families (including 140 for the shelter component);

This Operations Update notifies of a programme extension until the end of February 2005, with a shelter component of 140 houses and the final report due at the end of April 2005.

Disaster Relief Emergency Funds (DREF) allocated: CHF 50,000 (reimbursed).

Outstanding needs: CHF 22,029

Related Emergency/Annual Appeals: Emergency Appeal 03/04; Southeast Asia Regional Appeal 01.66/04

Operational Summary:

The construction of the housing units is ongoing and the system agreed upon is working well. Some of the affected households are providing skilled labour with the support of the adjacent community and the Philippine Army engineering brigade. The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) local chapter together with the provincial government continue to conduct regular coordination meetings with members of the task force to monitor project implementation. This is also a venue for raising and diagnosing problems, issues, needs and concerns that affect implementation. The trainers' course on Community-Based Disaster Management will proceed as scheduled from 10 to 25 November. The timeframe agreed between the PNRC and the Federation is being followed which extends the project to March 2005, PNRC will be working on a no-cost extension. After long delays the current progress of the project is being viewed positively by all stakeholders.

Operational Developments

Red Cross and Red Crescent action - objectives, progress, impact

Objective 1 (revised): Provide new housing for 140 families living in evacuation centres or other temporary accommodation.

The Deeds of Donation and Deeds of Sale were executed by the various landowners who donated or sold small plots of land to the government for the rehabilitation project. These documents were notarised and submitted to the provincial governor's office.

A total of 13 houses are being constructed and are at varying degrees of completion. Housing construction is continually being undertaken by the families, volunteers from adjacent villages, and members of the Philippine Army engineering brigade. There are 60 volunteers involved with the construction work at the site; which is managed by the PNRC project engineer. Nine army personnel augment this team of families and volunteers.

Heavy equipment from the provincial engineer's office is utilised to transport volunteers and construction materials. The PNRC has deployed a four-wheel-drive vehicle and a cargo truck to transport field staff and volunteers.

To further expedite the completion of the housing construction, the PNRC local chapter has appealed to the League of Municipal and City Mayors in the province of Southern Leyte to sponsor external skilled workers to help in the housing construction. A scheme is being drawn up for each municipal or city mayor to pay for the skilled labourers to construct one housing unit.

The old rice stocks were replaced by the national headquarters who had requested the local chapter to purchase locally produced rice the for food-for-work programme. A total of 200 sacks of rice (50kg/sack) were purchased and distributed to the families involved in the construction work.

Objective 2: Re -establish and improve access to safe water and provide sanitation facilities for the affected population.

This objective was removed from the operation.

Objective 3: Assist 300 of the most affected families to regain financial stability through the provision of livelihood facilities for income generation.

The distribution of agricultural tools will take place at the end of the training on vegetable garden production in March 2005.

Objective 4: Train and organise 120 community volunteers in the 12 most affected barangays of the five municipalities in community-based disaster management training (CBDMT).

The scheduled training-of-trainers' course on CBDM will be held , as scheduled, as part of the process of disseminating further a culture of safety within the community. This will be conducted from 16-29 November. The participants will mostly comprise community leaders from San Ricardo and will be joined by other village leaders from other municipalities.

A community-based first aid course was conducted from 25-30 October as a prerequisite to the formation of the Barangay Disaster Action Teams (BDATS). The training was attended by a total of 56 participants from San Ricardo, most of whom were families assisted by the project.

Training and organising of the BDATs will start on 8 November and continue until the end of the month as scheduled. BDATs will be composed of members of affected households and community leaders from adjacent villages who have attended the CBFA training. They will function as the first responders for future hazard events.

Federation Coordination

Coordination is maintained among the different Federation operators involved in the project. Coordination engages the outposted disaster risk management programme officer based in the country who maintains regular contact with PNRC project staff involved at the national headquarters and at the local chapter, with the regional delegation (head of the regional disaster management unit and programme coordinator), the Southeast Asia desk officer, and the Asia -Pacific reporting unit.

The Federation continues to coordinate with the PNRC national headquarters and the Southern Leyte chapter through the monitoring of and technical support for the project. Cooperation between the PNRC and Federation remains good.

National Society Capacity Building

The experience of the project staff in implementing the project has provided them with a wider perspective on Federation systems and procedures. Their skills in coordination with project partners and negotiations with both beneficiaries and suppliers have been enhanced. There has been marked improvement in the project management skills of the chapter staff and their counterparts at the national headquarters. This is evident in the continually progressive approaches being applied during project implementation.

Communications - Advocacy and Public Information

The trainers' training on CBDM will be one of the focal activities for advocacy and public information. This will be the prime advocacy and information tool, not only for the project area, but the whole province. This will create a pool of trainers with varied tasks including advocating for the development of a culture of safety and informing ways to prepare for hazard events at community level.

At Federation level, the process of monitoring, particularly at the logistics and procurement system, provided an opportunity to advocate more effectively Federation standards, disaster management policies, and Sphere standards.

- In country: Mrs. Jelma de la Pena, PNRC Regional Officer-in-Charge for Visayas, tel. 63 25278386/ fax 63 25270857/ email jcdp@redcross.org.ph

- In country : Mr. Rene Jinon, Regional disaster risk management program office, tel. 63 9276428467 / telefax 63 34 7324108, e-mail: ifrcth29@ifrc.org

- Regional delegation, Bangkok: Bernd Schell, Programme Coordinator/Ian Wilderspin, Head of Regional DM Unit tel. 66 2640821; fax 66 26408220; email ifrcth28@ifrc.org/ifrcth22@ifrc.org

- Geneva: Secretariat: Southeast Asia desk Charles Evans/Sabine Feuglet, tel. 41 227304320; fax 41 227330395; email charles.evans@ifrc.org or sabine.feuglet@ifrc.org

All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for a full description of the national society profile, please access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org