UN launches $301 million appeal for typhoon-ravaged Philippines
Manila, 13 Nov 2013: The United Nations on Tuesday appealed for nearly a third of
a billion dollars to provide humanitarian assistance to typhoon hit regions of the
Philippines where aid workers are labouring around the clock to get in urgently needed
survival supplies, such as food, clean water, shelter and basic medicines.
UN
Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos launched the $301 million flash appeal from
Manila, the capital, where she is surveying the damage by Typhoon Haiyan which ripped
through nine regions in south-east Asia over the weekend.
“The appeal of $301
million covers an initial period of six months,” said the UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson, Jens Laerke, in Geneva. “The humanitarian
community continues to scale up its operations to provide lifesaving aid. Many areas
do remain inaccessible, we are reaching into them little by little.”
More
than 11 million people have been affected by what the UN World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) has called the strongest tropical cyclone so far this year and one of the most
intense on record.
At least 670,000 people have been displaced, the majority
of them in evacuation centres, the rest in host communities or makeshift shelters,
according to OCHA.
“Water supply and power are cut. Much of the food stocks
and other goods are destroyed. Many health facilities are not functioning and medical
supplies [are] quickly being exhausted,” the UN humanitarian relief arm said in its
latest action plan update.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is working
with the Government to set up field hospitals, as personnel and medical supplies are
arriving in the country.
The health needs during the disaster are “significant”,
the agency said, made worse by crowded living conditions and contaminated drinking
water which can lead to the spread of infectious diseases.
“With another tropical
storm expected to hit the Philippines later this week, the need for safe water and
sanitation facilities is critical,” WHO said. Source:UN