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In Brief
Appeal No. 26/04; Operations Update no. 4; Period covered: 8 January to 14 March 2005; Appeal coverage: 76.5%; (click here to go directly to the attached Contributions List, also available on the website).
Appeal history:
Preliminary appeal launched on 2 December 2004 for CHF 2,011,000 (USD 1,749,036 or EUR 1,316,738) for three months for 250,000 beneficiaries.
Appeal revised on 15 December 2004 for CHF 4,193,878 (USD 3,634,146 or EUR 2,731,487) for six months for 60,000 families (some 300,000 beneficiaries).
Final report is due in September 2005.
Disaster Relief Emergency Funds (DREF) allocated: CHF 150,000.
Outstanding needs : CHF 984,610 (USD 853,200 or EUR 641,280)
Related Emergency or Annual Appeals: Southeast Asia Annual Appeal 01.66/2004 and 05AA057
Operational Summary: The advent of the tsunami and its horrendous effects have put the Philippines tragedy in the back burner. Conditions of hundreds of thousands affected by the typhoons and tropical depressions remain precarious. The Philippines National Red Cross (PNRC) continues its food assistance to enable the affected families to focus on restoring their livelihood. Identification of beneficiaries, mobilization of volunteers and staff, and securing logistics facilities for the delivery of relief supplies have been completed. Procurements are progressing and seven PNRC chapters have begun non-food distributions. Over 5,000 families have so far received non-food assistance. PNRC has also assessed the health facilities for rehabilitation and upgrade in three affected provinces. Additional staff and volunteers have been trained and will implement the planned water, sanitation and community-based health and hygiene intervention in the coming days .
Background
Since mid-November 2004, floods and landslides provoked by a series of storms, including Typhoons Muifa and Namadol and two tropical depressions, have killed 1,062 people, injured 1,161 and affected more than three million, mostly on the northern island of Luzon. Some 550 people are still reported missing. Over 188,000 houses were totally or partially damaged. The combined impact has caused significant loss of life and damage to the agricultural economy, severe disruption to livelihood and infrastructure in the country.
The PNRC has been at the forefront of response activities including distributions of food and household items, temporary shelter and health interventions. The Federation immediately released CHF 150,000 from DREF to support the relief operations of the PNRC and launched a preliminary appeal on 2 December 2004. Building on identified priority needs and the capacity of the national society, a revised appeal was launched on 15 December 2004, jointly with the UN Flash Appeal, to support PNRC relief activities in the worst hit areas where humanitarian aid to date has been inadequate and affected households face an extended recovery period.
An operational budget of CHF 3.1 million has been approved on the basis of funds received and purchases of materials for distribution have been initiated.
Operational developments
Despite the fact that the disaster has faded from the news agenda, hundreds of thousands in the areas affected by the typhoons and tropical depressions are still living in very precarious conditions with little access to proper shelter, safe water and sanitation facilities, and health services. The advent of the tsunami and its horrendous effects in Asia and East Africa have put the Philippines tragedy in the back burner, but the people affected by the typhoons in the Philippines suffered as much in their losses similar to the people affected by the tsunamis. They too lost members of their families as well as all their possessions.
The mud, debris and standing water are now cleared. Some commercial activities have started in some areas but the livelihood of many affected continues to be disrupted and will take a long time to recover. Cleaning up in Infanta and General Nakar is completed. Many homeless are still staying with their friends and relatives although the evacuation centres have been closed some time ago.
The food assistance from PNRC continued. The Disaster Management Service (DMS) officer-in-charge has been attendin g regular coordination meetings at the national disaster coordinating council (NDCC). The PNRC food assistance is still supplementing the efforts of the government and other agencies to allow the affected families to focus on restoring their livelihood. Concerns over contaminated waters in some municipalities and barangays (villages) are being addressed by the government agencies and NGOs.
During the reporting period, the PNRC and the Federation have made much effort in purchasing the food and non-food items for the implementation of the appeal objectives. The tasks of identifying beneficiaries, mobilizing staff and volunteers and securing logistics facilities for the delivery of relief supplies, have all been completed. Meanwhile, in close consultation with the Federation's delegation, the national society has also reviewed its financial resources to complement government's effort in addressing post-emergency and longer-term rehabilitation needs of the storm-affected households, including initiatives to build housing units as well as to identify a sustainable livelihood project with local partners. In addition to the appeal objectives, the PNRC will provide agricultural tools, seeds and fishing nets to improve the livelihoods of 1,000 typhoon-affected families in Quezon and Aurora.
Since the disaster struck in November and December last year, PNRC has extended initial relief assistance to more than 66,000 families, treated 719 injured, given health assistance to more than 1,000 patients, provided psychological support to 2,000 people and helped in the tracing of 107 missing persons. More than 1,000 volunteers dedicated themselves tirelessly, especially during the height of the disaster, to the relief operation.
report (pdf* format - 426 KB)