Red Cross Blogs

Posts tagged ‘Philippines’

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On Saturday evening (17 December), Typhoon Washi pounded the southern Philippines. Heavy rains and strong winds resulted in flash flooding and landslides in the Northern Mindanao area. Sections of road and bridges were damaged, and electricity and communication were disrupted.

Richard Gordon, Philippine Red Cross chairman, described the devastation as unprecedented. He said: “I’ve gone through many disasters but this one is the worst as the affected people have lost many family members. Some families have lost as many as 30 members.”

Unprecedented devastation

Washi is believed to have affected over 135,000 people and left over 600 dead. Two days after the event, more than 800 people are still missing. Evacuation centres are currently providing refuge for 45,000 people.

There has also been huge damage to property and crops. More than 1,300 houses have been destroyed, with a further 3,000 damaged. In the Surigao del Sur province, agricultural damages are estimated at over £17.5 million.

Red Cross positioned to help

The Philippine Red Cross has sent over 1,000 blankets, hygiene kits, and other emergency aid such as clothing, kitchen utensils and food to the worst-hit areas. It has also provided water tankers, distributing water at evacuation centres. Earlier today, the Red Cross deployed 5,000 emergency items from Manila and Davao to the affected area.

More than 600 Red Cross volunteers and staff have been active since the storm hit. As well as search and rescue operations, the Philippine Red Cross has provided hot meals to over 2,300 people. In evacuation centres, the Philippine Red Cross has set up first aid and welfare desks to help people who have been affected.

Read a survivor’s story

Donate to our disaster fund

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Here’s a brief round-up of some of the ways the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is helping people to deal with disasters around the world.

East Africa: The food security situation in the Horn of Africa has been deteriorating for many months and more than 11 million people are now in crisis. Areas of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia are severely affected by drought.

Over the past 18 months, the British Red Cross has provided £675,000 for programmes across East Africa. It has just released a further £1.25 million to support people in southern central Somalia in coming weeks.

Through the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Somali Red Crescent, part of this money will provide around 13,950 families with cereals, pulses and vegetable oil.

The ICRC is supporting a network of Somali Red Crescent therapeutic feeding centres. As well as emergency food aid, the Red Cross Movement is also carrying out longer-term work to support food security in the region.

Donate to our East Africa Food Crisis Appeal

Read more about the situation in East Africa

Syria: The Red Cross is helping thousands of people affected by the unrest in Syria, including many fleeing to Turkey and Lebanon. Following meetings with high-level officials, the ICRC has been granted wider access in the country.

Since the beginning of the unrest, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has distributed 22,925 food parcels, 10,000 hygiene parcels, 6,194 kilos of baby milk, 3,260 mattresses, 3,884 blankets as well as jerry cans, kitchen sets, medicine, children’s diapers, first aid items and stretchers.

Help Syria by donating to the Libya & Region Appeal

Haiti: The British Red Cross is helping Haitians prepare for tropical storm Emily, which is expected to cause heavy rains, potential landslides and flooding over the coming days.

Millions of Red Cross SMS messages are being sent country-wide to inform people of the impending storm and advise them of simple, but potentially life-saving, steps to take to keep them safe.

Volunteers are visiting camps and going door-to-door to spread these messages further and response teams are on standby for when the storm hits.

Read more on the situation in Haiti

Philippines and Vietnam: South East Asia is entering the 2011 storm and typhoon season. On 27 July, 645,000 people had to be evacuated when tropical storm Nock-Ten caused major flooding and damage across the Philippines. The storm claimed at least 25 lives, with dozens more still missing according to official sources.

Extensive pre-storm planning meant that resources and teams of trained Red Cross volunteers were on hand. Volunteers quickly distributed food rations and basic supplies to hundreds of people who had fled to evacuation centres.

In Vietnam, at least 22 people were killed in June when tropical storm Haima hit the country’s north-central coast. The Vietnam Red Cross has 10,000 household kits, one water treatment unit and one million water purification sachets ready for future emergencies.

Bangladesh: Since mid-July, the Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh has been experiencing devastating flash floods. The floods have caused ten deaths, left 30,000 people marooned and forced over 150,000 people from their homes.

The Bangladesh Red Crescent has been distributing food and clothing, and working with local government agencies in the search and rescue of those stranded by the floods.

Cameroon: Cholera has caused 359 deaths and infected more than 10,300 people across Cameroon since the beginning of the year, according to the Ministry of Health.

With the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the ICRC is responding to the cholera epidemic. Over 300 volunteers are working to raise awareness about good hygiene and sanitation in affected regions. Volunteers are also supporting staff at health centres.

The onset of Cameroon’s rainy season brings increased risk that the disease will spread.

*The Movement is made of 186 National Societies (including the British Red Cross), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

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Update (15:30 – Sun 13 March): We’re receiving a lot of questions about volunteering in Japan or sending goods. Please see our website for information on why we don’t send volunteers overseas and why we cannot send goods to disaster zones.

Update (2pm – Sat 12 March): We are now accepting donations for Japan. Please donate to the Red Cross Japan tsunami appeal.

Update (10:30am – Sat 12 March): Please see the latest statement from the British Red Cross on the response to the Japan earthquake.

In my post this morning, I said we were keeping an eye on what was happening in Japan and other countries in the Pacific that lay in the path of the tsunami.

Throughout the day, tsunami warnings have been lifted from some – but not all – of the countries around the Pacific Ocean.

The pictures and videos coming in from Japan are very distressing. The Japanese Red Cross has sent 18 emergency teams to the affected areas to assess damage and needs, to provide first aid and give practical and emotional support.

More teams will be deployed as needs become clear, and plans are being drawn up for potential relief distributions if they are needed.

Our head of disaster management, Katy Attfield, has said: “The devastation in Japan is clear, and this was an absolutely huge earthquake. That said, Japan is very well prepared for this kind of disaster, and they are not asking for international support.

“Our big concern now is for countries across the pacific who could be hit by a tsunami. As we saw in 2004, tsunamis are some of the most devastating natural disasters and can cause even more damage than the earthquakes which create them.

“The Red Cross has triggered all its response mechanisms in the Pacific region. Our main concern now is to get people out of harm’s way.

“The Red Cross is helping evacuate people away from coastal areas. We’re doing all we can and the British Red Cross is ready to respond wherever we may be needed.”

The British Red Cross is ready to respond in support of the Japanese Red Cross should there be a call for international assistance. Please keep checking our website for updates.

Find out how to contact family in Japan

Update

We’ve had a lot of comments asking how people can donate for Japan.

We cannot accept donations specifically for Japan unless the Japanese Red Cross asks for international donations. We really appreciate how willing everyone is to give, and if we do start taking donations for Japan we will let you know.

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Update (15:30 – Sun 13 March): We’re receiving a lot of questions about volunteering in Japan or sending goods. Please see our website for information on why we don’t send volunteers overseas and why we cannot send goods to disaster zones.

Update: We are now accepting donations for Japan. Please donate to the Red Cross Japan tsunami appeal.

According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, a widespread severe tsunami warning is in effect for the entire Pacific, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Samoa, Hawaii, Mexico, Australia, Fiji, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Chile, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, and Pacific islands.

The Japanese Red Cross has teams assessing the damage. So far, they haven’t asked for any help from international partners, like the British Red Cross.

We’re waiting to see how the tsunami affects Pacific islands, and we’re keeping an eye on updates from our partners around the world.

The Philippine Red Cross has launched its early warning system and its branches are warning residents to avoid coastal areas and prepare to move to higher ground. The American Red Cross has volunteers in Hawaii and California. Other Red Cross National Societies will also be helping their communities prepare for the tsunami by working alongside the emergency services, evacuating buildings, and staffing rest centres.

The British Red Cross has a Disaster Fund, which helps us be prepared for disasters. Before we launched appeals for the New Zealand and Haiti earthquakes, we gave money from our Disaster Fund to provide immediate relief. We don’t yet know whether we will make a Disaster Fund allocation for the tsunami, but donations to our Disaster Fund will help us be prepared for disasters around the world and in the UK.

All donations to the Disaster Fund are distributed according to where the need is greatest, here in the UK or overseas, and cannot be restricted to particular countries. The British Red Cross is ready to respond in support of the Japanese Red Cross should there be a call for our assistance. Please keep checking our website for updates.

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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. Read the rest of this post »

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