Summary of the operation
After striking the Federated States of Micronesia as a Category 5 typhoon during the last week of March 2015, Typhoon Maysak (Philippine name: Chedeng) headed for the Philippines, leaving the authorities and agencies concerned about the humanitarian impact it could make if it maintained its strength at landfall. Fortunately, Maysak made landfall over Isabela province of Luzon in the northeast Philippines as a tropical depression. While the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) reported no casualties, the tropical depression caused minimal damage to houses and infrastructure.
In anticipation of a potential disaster, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) activated their preparedness measures, with IFRC allocating CHF 119,180 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to enable the PRC to pre-positioned response and assessment teams as well as relief supplies in areas under threat. However, considering that Maysak did not have a humanitarian impact, PRC did not have to mount a scaled up response.
Specifically, PRC carried out the following actions:
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Served hot meals to 250 people affected by the tropical depression;
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Pre-positioned search and rescue vehicles and equipment in nearby locations, but these eventually did not require deployment to affected areas;
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Pre-positioned disaster preparedness stocks, in Nueva Ecija and Nueva Viscaya, which were not distributed and are being retained for potential distribution in the event of a new disaster.
Due to the low impact of the typhoon, only a portion of the DREF allocation was utilized – mainly to cover costs relating to pre-positioning and deployment of relief supplies, vehicles and equipment in anticipation of the typhoon. The plan of action was adjusted on 9 May 2015 in line with the situation that unfolded, with the operational budget to CHF 20,284 and timeframe adjusted for the operation to end on 31 May 2015. The operation is consequently closed, this final is being issued and the balance of CHF 3,970 will be returned to the DREF pool.