Philippines Typhoon: Two months on, how are survivors coping?

(Vatican Radio) It’s exactly two months since Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines killing over 6,000 people with nearly two thousand others still listed as missing. More than 16 million people have been affected by the calamity with 80 percent of buildings destroyed in the worst-affected areas. Catholic Relief Services and other aid agencies say there is an urgent need for international funding in long–term recovery programmes to help the Filipino people rebuild their shattered lives. Susy Hodges spoke to Joseph Curry, Country Representative for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the Philippines, to find out how survivors are coping.

Listen to the full interview with Joseph Curry of CRS:

Curry says although the relief operation in the aftermath of this disaster is “proceeding well” with “debris gradually being removed” life remains extremely difficult for the survivors: “There’s a tremendous amount of suffering that continues.”

He says the survivors have lost their jobs and their homes and at CRS there is “ a lot of concern” as the relief operation in the immediate aftermath of the typhoon moves into the long-term recovery phase because this phase “is very under-funded right now.”

Fortunately, Curry says, the Filipino people are very resilient despite being under “a lot of stress” and he describes how the local Catholic Church has played a key role in trying to ease the suffering of the survivors. “There’s a great deal of relief assistance coming in … being channeled through the local dioceses and the parishes and that relief is being distributed directly to families.”