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UNICEF's Christopher de Bono reports on the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and the challenges facing emergency response efforts.
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By Christopher de Bono, Regional Chief of Communication, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific
In the Philippines, the devastation of a 'super typhoon' has left communities helpless, while the Government and relief groups struggle to mount aid operations.
A view of the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the city of Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines. UNICEF is conducting a rapid assessment of the situation and is prepared with partner agencies and NGOs to spearhead the response.
MANILA, Philippines, 11 November 2013 – I
just got off the phone with Nonoy, a UNICEF colleague in Tacloban City, in the
Philippine province of Leyte. He is a thorough professional, an old hand who
has seen disasters and devastation before.
But there was a quiver in his voice.
“People, families with children are
walking along the ruined roads,” he said. “I don’t know where they are going –
there is nowhere to go. They are walking because their homes are gone and they
have nowhere to go.”
Many have nothing
It had taken him an hour to get out of the airport because of the debris on the
road. Some other colleagues had been stuck in the airport overnight. The roads
are almost impassible in the pitch black night, and the risk of accidents is
very real – not only to drivers and passengers, but also to people camping on
the streets.
“So many people have nothing. Their children are hungry, some are sick, and
they are frustrated,” Nonoy explained.
Residents in an evacuation camp in Tacloban. Therapeutic food for children, health kits, water and hygiene kits to support up to 3,000 families in affected areas have already been mobilized from supplies available in the country, with distribution prioritized for the Tacloban area as soon as access is possible.
Who wouldn’t be? I can only imagine what
it feels like to be utterly unable to comfort or even feed my daughter. We’ve
been through some tough times, but I have always been able to give her food and
shelter, and help her when she’s ill.
At the moment, these people can’t do
that, and there’s nowhere for them to turn for help.
There have been local media reports of looting, but Nonoy described people desperate
for food for their hungry families “salvaging” rice from a damaged and deserted
warehouse.
“The local authorities are doing what
they can, and there are long lines of people outside the city hall,” he
observed.
Reinforcements from the Philippines army
are helping local police restore order in Tacloban. But the things people need most
just aren’t there. Many of the authorities –local civil servants – have
also lost loved ones and homes.
Logistical challenge
What children in Tacloban City need right now is food, shelter, clean water and
basic medicines.
There is hope for them. The airport is now functioning, and transport aircraft
are bringing in urgent aid and supplies. Local authorities are reestablishing
the order necessary to distribute aid and meet people’s needs – slowly and with
great difficulty, but with support from UNICEF and our partners.
School buildings damaged by Typhoon Haiyan in the city of Tacloban. The United Nations along with UNICEF is partnering with the Government through the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to carry out relief and response operations for the affected population.
Logistics are a huge challenge – getting
aid and expertise to the right places; finding the petrol to move them; setting
up systems for distribution, and reestablishing communications links.
There are many parts of the country that were in the path of Typhoon Haiyan that
are still inaccessible, so there is a lot we still don’t know, and many
children – probably millions – who desperately need our help and are not yet
receiving it.
Two other population centres of particular concern are northern Palawan and
Ormac in Leyte, where we are yet to know what suffering has occurred or how
many children need our help.
Tomorrow we will know more from our colleagues who have just arrived in
Ormac. Fingers crossed.