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Philippines: Super Typhoon Rai (Odette) - Situation Report No. 2 (As of 13 January 2022)

Countries
Philippines
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

This report is produced by OCHA Philippines in collaboration with humanitarian partners under the Philippines Humanitarian Country Team. It covers the period from 30 December 2021 to 13 January 2022 and primarily focuses on relief activities in Caraga and Southern Leyte.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The RC/HC convened a donor briefing on 11 January to provide an update on the response, and to appeal for continued support and awareness-raising at national and international levels one month after the typhoon.

• Project plans are being finalized following the Emergency Relief Coordinator’s approval of a Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocation. Some $12 million has been allocated to four agencies covering 10 clusters and sub-clusters in Eastern Visayas and Caraga regions. These are WFP (Food, ETC and Logistics), IOM (CCCM and Emergency Shelter), UNFPA (GBV and SRH), and UNICEF (WASH, Education and Child Protection).

• As of 12 January, the Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) plan is funded at 25.9 per cent (US$27.8 million) out of the total financial ask of $107.2 million.

• On 5 January, OCHA deployed a team to set up an antenna office in Southern Leyte. Until power and Internet connectivity are restored in Maasin, the team will be based in Ormoc, from where it will coordinate response activities with humanitarian partners in Eastern Visayas.

• The recent surge in COVID-19 cases and related mobility restrictions add complications to response activities. The national COVID-19 positivity rate is at 47.9per cent. La Niña-related heavy rains are also affecting operations in Caraga, Leyte, and Southern Leyte, and other regions.

• Due to staff shortages related to COVID-19 infections, two national air carriers (Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific) have cancelled several flights to/from Cebu, Tacloban, Butuan and Bohol, where humanitarians are trying to scale up operations.

• The Government has placed an additional 28 cities/provinces under strict Alert Level 3 from 14 to 31 January. These include areas such as Eastern Visayas and CARAGA where typhoon relief operations are ongoing.

• Numerous humanitarian responders have tested positive for COVID-19 over the last few days, leaving agencies understaffed as they prioritize Duty of Care. A UN Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator high-level mission to Southern Leyte planned for early next week has been postponed.

• One month into the response, humanitarian partners have also conducted over 63 rapid needs assessments which give a better overview of the extent of damage. The HNP was prepared based on the assumption that 2.4 million people are in need (PIN) of humanitarian assistance. At that time, only 101,000 houses damaged or destroyed were reported. Currently, the Government considers that all affected are also PIN so this dramatically increases the PIN to 8 million. Reported damaged or destroyed houses are now at 1.4 million. In the coming weeks, the HCT will consider revised consolidated needs assessments and decide on appropriate next steps.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.