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Philippines: Tropical Storm Tembin/Vinta - Rapid Assessment Report (January 2018)

Countries
Philippines
Sources
Save the Children
Publication date

Date(s) of Assessment: 28-31 December 2017

Name and Location of Site(s) Assessed:

  • Lanao del Sur, Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao

  • Lanao del Norte, Region X

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On 20 December, the Low Pressure Area in northeast Mindanao, Philippines has developed into a Tropical Depression and was named by the Philippine state weather bureau as Vinta (with international name: Tembin). Vinta/Tembin intensified and has developed into a Tropical Storm category as it moved towards the landmass of Mindanao. It was reclassified into Severe Tropical Storm before making landfall in Cateel, Davao Oriental at around 1:45am on 22 December. It traversed Mindanao and crossed provinces westward and exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) at 8am on 24 December.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that a total of 161,628 families or 767,994 persons were affected in 1,131 barangays/villages in eight regions.(1) As of 30 December 2017, the government is still validating the 163 reported deaths (64 in Region IX, 75 in Region X, and 24 in ARMM) and another 163 persons missing. Most of the dead and missing were reported in the hardest-hit provinces of Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, and Zamboanga del Norte. The provincial provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur declared the entire province under the state of calamity. Meanwhile, four municipalities in Zamboanga del Norte; one municipality in Zamboanga del Sur, one municipality in Zamboanga Sibugay, and three municipalities in Palawan declared their town under the state of calamity.

TS Tembin has dumped a massive amount of rainfall that triggered widespread flooding, flashfloods, and mudslide in provinces it crossed including the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Zamboanga del Norte. The flashflood and mudslide swept away houses and belongings including learning essentials; caused heavy damage to schools, barangay halls, child development centers, and health centers; damaged water pipelines and water intake boxes; washed out agricultural crops such as corn, coconut, and rice; and instantly killed livestock such as cows, horses, and goats. Children’s behavior changed after typhoon – they would cry after hearing heavy rainfall on the roof or howling winds, or are restless at night.

TS Tembin has triggered major needs on education, child protection, water, sanitation, and hygiene; food security and livelihood; and disaster preparedness at the school and community level. It is should be highlighted also that most of the schools affected in Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte are schools hosting internally displaced children due to the Marawi City Conflict and Displacement. The challenging situation created by the conflict and displacement has become more challenging now that school facilities and equipment were damaged by TS Tembin.

Providing immediate assistance to the severely-affected schools and community would be life-saving and would lessen the risk of families to negative coping mechanism such as pulling out the children from schooling due to lack or absence of money, trafficking, child labor, recruitment to armed groups, or violence against children and women.

Save the Children can build on our existing humanitarian response to the Marawi Conflict and Displacement to make sure that children have access to education, protection, and development. Partnerships built between the Department of Education and civil society organizations can optimize the work we do for children.

RECOMMENDATION

From the areas surveyed, Munai and Salvador in Lanao del Norte; and Madalum, Madamba, and Bacolod Kalawi in Lanao del Sur province are being recommended for interventions on education, child protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), non-food items (NFIs), and food security and livelihood.

The recommendation is made on the basis of lack of access to immediate support due to impassable bridge and roads, scale and extent of damaged to schools and houses, number of affected families, and long-term needs of the affected schools and community to build their capacity and mitigate the impact of hazards in the future.