Red Cross Blogs

Misery in the Philippines as third typhoon approaches

By Sarah Oughton
October 22, 2009 at 11:03 am

This morning, I was sitting on my sofa, eating my yummy cereal in my nice warm house but getting mildly annoyed at the weather forecast – rain is not what I wanted for the weekend.

But if I lived in the Philippines I think I would be feeling a whole lot more than mildly annoyed right now. In the last month, Typhoon Ketsana and Typhoon Parma ripped through the country affecting more than six million people and leaving thousands homeless.

Today, people are bracing themselves for more misery as Typhoon Lupit threatens to batter already storm ravaged areas and dump yet more water on the flooded north of the country.

It could take up to a month for Parma’s storm waters to drain away and rain from Lupit will only extend this, increasing damage to crops in an area known as the Philippines’ fruit basket.

Along with flooding there is also concern for people whose homes were destroyed or damaged by Parma and whose current shelters may not stand up to the anticipated winds.

Philippine Red Cross community volunteers have been telling people that the typhoon is coming and they should evacuate or stay away from dangerous low-lying areas.

They also have pre-positioned relief items in areas where they are likely to be needed, and search and rescue teams equipped with boats are also on standby.

Lupit is likely to increase needs in the Philippines and after a series of disasters in the Asia Pacific region – including a tsunami in Samoa and earthquake in Indonesia – there are ongoing emergency response operations.

These disasters have been on a massive scale. The response from the public has already been fantastic, but more is needed and every single donation makes a difference.

If you can spare £10 this can provide three blankets for people left without shelter. If you can spare £25 this could provide food parcels for a family of five for one month. We need you, to help us make a difference.

Image © Philippines Red Cross

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Tags: Asia Pacific, disaster, earthquake, emergency, emergency response, flooding, Indonesia, Philippines, red cross, relief, Samoa, tsunami, typhoon, Typhoon Ketsana, volunteers

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 am and is filed under Emergencies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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