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Philippines: Typhoons and floods 2013, Emergency appeal n° MDRPH012 Operation update n°4

Countries
Philippines
Sources
IFRC
Publication date
Origin
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Period covered: 16 October to 31 December 2013

Appeal target (current): CHF 1,856,354

Appeal coverage: The appeal is 54 per cent covered in hard and soft pledges.

Appeal history:

· On 19 September 2013 an emergency appeal was issued for CHF 1,856,354 to deliver assistance to 15,000 families (75,000 people) in eight months.

· On 26 August 2013 a preliminary emergency appeal was launched for CHF 1,681,554 to deliver assistance to 15,000 families (75,000 people) in eight months.

· CHF 319,766 was allocated from the IFRC Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to initiate distributions and to support detailed assessments.

Summary

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) continues to provide assistance to families affected by typhoons and floods on Luzon Island. Since August 2013 major typhoons and severe weather systems have affected Luzon. To date the Philippine Red Cross has provided hot meals to 31,000 people, food packages to 20,000 families, non-food packages to 3,000 families, health and hygiene messages to 16,400 families and unconditional cash grants to 3,500 families. Since the last update of this operation focusing on Typhoon Nari (local name Santi), six weather disturbances, including super typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), affected the Philippines until end of December. A few days after Typhoon Nari hit, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Central Visayas on 15 October causing loss of lives and significant damage to shelter. Barely three weeks after the earthquake, Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest typhoon on record, struck several parts of Visayas killing thousands of people and displacing millions. Luzon Island was not spared the brunt of Haiyan, where areas like Bicol Region and Southern Luzon experienced strong winds and rains.

More than five million people were affected and at least 126,000 houses across Luzon island were damaged/destroyed due to multiple disasters; beginning with Typhoon Utor (locally known as Labuyo) that struck in August 2013, followed by the southwest monsoon (locally known as Habagat), Tropical Storm Trami (locally known as Maring) and Typhoon Nari. Towards the end of 2013, Typhoon Usagi (locally known as Odette), Typhoon Wutip (locally known as Paolo), Typhoon Quedan, Typhoon Vinta and Tropical Storm Wilma hit and impacted the earlier-affected areas, with at least 211,000 people affected and 4,200 houses damaged/destroyed.

While this appeal aimed at covering the entire typhoon season in the Philippines, Typhoon Haiyan, due to its massive devastation to the population, shelter and livelihoods, is being run in a separate appeal.

Under this appeal, through the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 25,000 people were provided with hot meals during the emergency phase, 10,562 families assisted with food packages, 3,000 families with essential relief items and 16,425 families reached with hygiene promotion – achieving the appeal target. Meanwhile, distribution of unconditional cash for 3,500 families is completed. Validation of beneficiaries for shelter repair assistance has been done in Aurora, the worst-affected province by Typhoon Utor, where PRC and IFRC technical staff were deployed before the Christmas break. A similar exercise is underway in Nueva Ecija.

So far, the partners who have contributed to this appeal are the American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross/Canadian government, Danish Red Cross/Danish government, Finnish Red Cross/Finnish government, Japanese Red Cross Society, Red Cross of Monaco, Swedish Red Cross/Swedish government, Swiss Red Cross/Swiss government and World Health Organization Voluntary Emergency Relief Fund (WHO/VERF). On behalf of the Philippine Red Cross, IFRC would like to thank these partners for their generous donations.