ACT Situation Report

Philippines 01/06

Typhoon Durian - Emergency Assistance

ACT Appeal ASPH63 Typhoon Durian - Emergency Assistance

Geneva, December 19, 2006

Information provided by Michael Paratharayil, regional emergency officer for ACT member Christian Aid, based in Legazpi

General information

The province of Albay, which was hardest hit by Typhoon Durian, is threatened with another typhoon, which is forecast to hit the region within a couple of days. Residents have not yet recovered from the impact of Durian, which hit on November 30. As of December 14, more than 3,769 families were still being accommodated in evacuation centers in Albay province. More than 68,617 families lost their houses, while 45,199 families’ homes received partial damage. Food and non-food items are being distributed to the affected families in the evacuation centers and villages.

Some families are sifting through the rubble of their houses in search of their valuables in many villages. In Binitaiyan village, 72-year-old Lilia Nicholas said, “We want to see if any of our valuables can be recovered.” She is currently living in a makeshift arrangement near her destroyed house. Typhoon Durian and the subsequent landslides destroyed most of the houses in her village. The future is uncertain to villagers there, and most are still unclear whether to stay in their village or shift to a new place.

The national government has declared some of the typhoon-affected villages as too dangerous, and villagers are to be relocated to new sites. As per the provincial disaster coordinating council (PDCC), each relocated family will be given 80 square meters of land.

Activities of Christian Aid and its partners

To encourage families to move out of the crowded evacuation camps, government authorities and I/NGOs are working together to provide essential food and non-food items that will help communities resume their normal lives. COPE, a local partner of ACT member Christian Aid, has already provided more than 3,900 families with basic food (5 kg of rice, half kg of lentils, 50 grams of coffee powder, 2 tins of corn beef, 1 kg of sugar and 330 grams of milk powder). Another 285 families have been given non-food items. The distribution is to continue in the next coming days as well.

Many of the typhoon survivors are traumatized. Ryan Premiris, a resident of Padang village, lost his three children and feels guilty that he could not save them. He said, “I put my three children in a concrete house, assuming they were safe. Within minutes after putting them there, the so-called safe house was washed away with my children.” He also said that he could not organize any last services or rituals after their deaths.

As part of their psycho-social programs, Christian Aid partners COPE and Coastal Core are planning to organize special masses and rituals for those who have died or are missing. Christian Aid and partners organized similar community rituals for different religious groups in Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

Continuous rains and flash floods

On December 17, the office of COPE in Legazpi was about to be flooded due to the heavy rainfall and the subsequent overflow of the drains. A team of 10 people, including Christian Aid’s country representative and its regional emergency officer, who is currently stationed in COPE’s office, had to remove the water in buckets for more than an hour to prevent the office from flooding. Heavy rain is forecast for the next few days. There is no electricity in the area, and Internet services are not yet restored.

Coordination

Christian Aid and its partners are active in the coordination process. COPE and Coastal Core are very active in the provincial-level coordination forum. Social Action Centre (SAC), Legazpi, the social-development arm of the Catholic Church, is also willing to collaborate with Christian Aid and its partners in providing psychosocial are. Christian Aid has also had discussions with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and HEKS, both also ACT members. Christian Aid partners are also mobilizing local resources to ensure that some of the unmet needs of the survivors are fulfilled.

Future planning

As the situation is changing daily, there is a need to prioritize the emerging needs. Emergency shelters (tents) that were prioritized in the previous assessment will not be needed now. The PDCC has requested semi-permanent or permanent houses in the relocation sites. Christian Aid and COPE, which had prioritized emergency shelters in the ACT appeal, will not be supplying them in the current context. On the basis of the current needs, Christian Aid is planning to provide semi-permanent houses for around 225 families in the relocation sites. These families will be identified on the basis of certain criteria. Due to the higher cost of semi-permanent houses, Christian Aid and COPE will implement this program directly and will not collaborate with SAC. In the original plan, Christian Aid and COPE were planning to share some of the emergency shelter with SAC, and the total number of the emergency shelters to be distributed was 1,000. These changes to emergency-shelter needs will be incorporated in an upcoming revision of the ACT appeal for this emergency.

Advocacy

There is a need to advocate for the current humanitarian crisis in Bicol. Though the support of the international community is coming in, there is a need to have more international support, especially to a community that has been hit by more than three rounds of typhoons, floods, mud/landslides and a volcanic eruption.