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Philippines

Philippines: Multiple Tropical Cyclones - Situation Report No. 3 (As of 22 January 2024)

Attachments

On behalf of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), this report is produced by OCHA Philippines in collaboration with the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG) and humanitarian partners. Reporting for this situation report this covers 17 December- 18 January 2024.

HIGHLIGHTS

• As of 22 January 2025, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Disaster Response Operations Management, Information and Communication (DROMIC) reports a total of 3,500 families (12,700 people) remain displaced across 8 regions in the country due to the combined effects of the six tropical cyclones in 2024.

• There are currently a total of 52 evacuation sites open to provide temporary shelter for internally displaced persons (IDPs). Shelter repair kits, other shelter materials, and cleaning materials are needed by the IDPs for the rebuilding of their homes.

• The number of damaged houses has increased to 412,800, of which 39,800 were totally damaged (destroyed) and 373,000 partially damaged (repairable). The updated reports show a 50 per cent increase in families needing shelter assistance.

• The Department of Health (DOH)– Central Office has deactivated its Code Blue1 Alerts last 27 December and has shifted into recovery and rehabilitation. As part of the continuing support of the Health Cluster partners, activities and commodities being provided to the areas affected to support the continuous health needs of vulnerable populations, including support to rehabilitation and recovery efforts ensuring the continuous delivery of essential health services.

• Around 198,328 people benefitted from WASH interventions in 34 municipalities, across seven provinces in four regions. Water trucking or provision of vouchers through water refilling stations is ongoing alongside the assessments of water systems to plan possible repairs and improvements to provide safe water more effectively.

• Given the multiple cyclones and subsequent flooding incidents, an IDP law or IDP local ordinance on the protection of the rights of the internally displaced people (IDP) is needed to better address the concerns and issues of the IDPs and institutionalize their rights during and after emergencies

• Some clusters such as Food Security and Agriculture and Emergency Shelter are facing resource gaps to support the affected communities which have been exacerbated by rain induced flooding incidents which affected parts of the country in the past few weeks.

• With connectivity fully restored in Catanduanes, the Emergency Telecommunication Cluster (ETC) has demobilized its assets in Region 5. The cluster has donated 18 connectivity assets - including routers, satellite equipment, and point-to-point links—in anticipation of future emergencies.

• In support of the HNP, financial contributions and/or pledges were received from member states such as the United States, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea (RoK), Australia, Canada, Germany and Sweden. Outside the HNP substantial contributions were made by the European Commission’s ECHO, the United States, United Kingdom,
Australia and the private sector.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

More than 13 million people were affected by the six successive tropical cyclones—Severe Tropical Storm (STS) Trami, locally named Kristine, Super Typhoon Kong-rey (STY), locally named Leon, Typhoon (TY)
Yinxing, locally named Marce, TY Toraji locally named Nika, STY Usagi, locally named Ofel, and STY Man-yi, locally named Pepito, spanning across all 18 regions in the country. In some areas, the communities were displaced or affected at least thrice. In the 15 worst -affected provinces, about 5.9 million people are affected and cumulatively, 2.6 million people were displaced.

Almost 100 days since then, most of the affected communities have returned to their homes with 12,700 people or 3,500 families still displaced in around 80 evacuation centres (EC). Those returning home are in need of shelter repair kits, other shelter materials, and cleaning materials given that their homes were either totally damaged or partially damaged but in need of repairs. for the rebuilding of their homes. For the internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in no-build zones (NBZ), available land and developed sites for relocation are yet to be identified.

Funding gaps have been identified by clusters on Food Security and Agriculture and Emergency Shelter to support the affected communities in their road to recovery. Needs have also been exacerbated by rain induced flooding incidents which affected parts of the country in the past few weeks. The Department of Agriculture has reported that the different weather systems including shearline, Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and Northeast Monsoon brought moderate to heavy, with at times intense, rainfall. Based on the initial assessments of affected regional offices, damage and losses have been reported in rice, corn, high-value crops, and farm structures amounting to US$243 thousand (PHP14.22 million), affecting 1,379 farmers, with volume of production loss at 139 metric tons and 965 hectares of agricultural areas.

Emergency Shelter has reported that the cluster is facing a significant 83 per cent or approximately $10 million as funding gap. Due to the successive incidents. The updated reports show a 50 per cent increase in families needing shelter assistance.

Since the launch of the revised Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) plan on 5 December 2024, the plan has received $22.8 million (54 per cent) out of the $42.2 million needed to implement the priority interventions. Other funding outside the HNP and other bilateral mechanisms from donors, the Red Cross Movement and the Private Sector have provided around $7 million, bringing the total humanitarian funding to $32.1 million.

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