Typhoon Nesat
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Emergency appeal Philippines: Typhoon Nesat Emergency appeal n° MDRPH007 GLIDE n° TC-2011-000147-PHL and TC-2011-000149-PHL 10 November 2011 This Revised Emergency Appeal seeks CHF 4,114,366 (USD 4.6 million or EUR 3.3 million) in cash, kind, or services to support the Philippine Red Cross to assist 25,000 families (125,000 persons) for 12 months. The operation will be completed by 30 September 2012 and a final report will be made available by 31 December 2012 (three months after the end of operation). Appeal history: • Preliminary Emergency Appeal was launched on 4 October 2011 for CHF 3,550,719 for eight months to assist 250,000 beneficiaries. • Disaster Relief Emergency Fund A woman receives relief items from the Philippine Red Cross in Calumpit (DREF): CHF 280,000 was Municipality, Bulacan, as other residents wait in the queue. allocated to support this Photo: Pablo Reyes/IFRC operation. Summary: More than 4 million people in the Philippines were severely affected when typhoons Nesat and Nalgae hit the island of Luzon during the week of 26 September – 2 October 2011. National disaster authorities have placed the combined death toll from the twin storms at 101, with a further 103 injured and 27 missing. The estimated total cost of damage by the twin disasters is PHP 15 billion (CHF 320 million), exceeding that caused by Typhoon Ketsana in late 2009. Agriculture and infrastructure have been severely impacted, and more than 71,500 houses damaged or destroyed. The hardest hit region is Central Luzon, which accounts for around 2.5 million of the total affected population. The typhoons left large areas isolated, submerging parts of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga. In the hardest-hit provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, residents say the flooding is the worst they have experienced in decades. For now, floodwater has, by and large, receded and a clearer picture of the extent of damage and nature of needs has emerged. While the worst seems over for now, the risk remains of new storms hitting in the near future. Potential fresh rains and new storms would further weaken the coping mechanisms of people who have been hard hit already. The national weather bureau has advised that heavy rains brought by La Niña could last into 2012, including in Central and Northern Luzon. The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has been active since Typhoon Nesat was sighted. As the typhoon approached, the organization issued a series of advisories and early warnings to its chapters. When the storm hit, the PRC activated specialized response units that managed to ferry more than 2,500 people to evacuation shelters and water search and rescue teams that took around 2,600 trapped persons to safety. The national society also acted swiftly to rescue those affected by Typhoon Nalgae, which followed days after Nesat. 2 Based on the situation on the ground, concerned PRC chapters identified urgent needs of typhoon-affected communities. The PRC then requested the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to launch a preliminary emergency appeal for CHF 3,550,719 (USD 3,892,270) to assist 50,000 families (250,000 people). Prior to the launch, the IFRC advanced CHF 280,000 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to initiate the response of the national society. The operation launched on 4 October 2011 aimed at enabling the PRC to provide a combination of relief and early recovery support to 50,000 families (250,000 people). Drawing largely from the DREF allocation, the PRC has since distributed food to some 42,000 families and non-food items to around 12,500 families. To get a clear picture of the needs on the ground, the PRC deployed five multi-sectoral assessment teams on 5 October 2011. The teams undertook assessments in Aurora, Bulacan, Ifugao, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Quirino. Based on the assessment findings, the operation plan is being adjusted through this Emergency Appeal. Under this Emergency Appeal operation, the IFRC will support the PRC to provide relief, early recovery and recovery assistance to some 25,000 families (125,000 people) in Luzon. The sectors to be covered by this intervention are food and non-food relief distributions, health and hygiene promotion, water and sanitation, early recovery grants (for livelihoods restoration, farm inputs, asset replacement and essential shelter repairs), transitional shelter, and disaster preparedness and response capacity enhancement. In the relief phase, this operation will cover food packages for 25,000 families, sleeping materials for 15,000 families, water storage containers for 20,000 families and hygiene kits for 8,000 families. Water treatment tablets will be provided on case-by-case basis in areas where restoration of safe water supply systems is likely to take time. Additionally, the PRC will undertake health and hygiene promotion targeting 20,000 families assisted with water storage containers to promote knowledge necessary for preventing water and sanitation-diseases. In the recovery phase some 5,000 families that incurred losses or damage to livelihoods and homes will be assisted with grants (using the commodity voucher methodology) to obtain inputs that set the basis for pursuing self-reliance while the hardest-hit 1,000 will receive materials and guidance for construction of transitional shelter. Water and sanitation assistance will extend to rehabilitation of facilities that were damaged because of the twin storms. Finally, to increase the capacity of PRC to respond to hydro-meteorological disasters, disaster response as well as search and rescue teams will be formed, trained and equipped. The operation will be completed by 30 September 2012 and a final report will be issued by 31 December 2012. <click here to view the attached budget; here to link to map of the affected area; and here to view contact details> The situation In late September/early October 2011, the Philippines was struck by back-to-back typhoons, Nesat and Nalgae, which mostly affected the northern and central regions of Luzon island on 27 September and 1 October respectively. National disaster authorities have placed the combined death toll from the two powerful storms at 101, with a further 103 injured and 27 missing. According to the last National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) update, issued on 12 October 2011, more than 4 million people were affected. Table 1: Effects of typhoons Nesat and Nalgae ‐ as of 12 October 2011 (Source: NDRRMC) Details Typhoon Nesat Typhoon Nalgae Total Deaths 83 18 101 Injured 91 12 103 Missing 20 7 27 Persons affected # of families (persons) # of families (persons) Total # of families (persons) Cordillera Administrative Region 8,129 (41,881) 901 (3,435) 9,030 (45,316) Cagayan Valley (Region 2) 99,211 (417,138) 71,412 (403,307) 170,623 (820,445) Central Luzon (Region 3) 452,359 (2,124,002) 108,071 (466,398) 560,430 (2,590,400) Other regions (28 provinces) 92,190 (447,734) 46,236 (240,623) 138,426 (688,357) Total # of affected persons 651,889 (3,030,755) 226,620 (1,113,763) 878,509 (4,144,518) Totally damaged houses 7,213 2,848 10,061 Partially damaged houses 46,130 15,393 61,523 Total # of damaged houses 53,343 18,241 71,584 3 The authorities have estimated that the total cost of damage wrought by the twin disasters is PHP 15 billion (CHF 320 million), exceeding that caused by Typhoon Ketsana in late 2009. Agriculture and infrastructure have been severely impacted, and more than 71,500 houses damaged or destroyed. The hardest hit region is Central Luzon, which accounts for around 2.5 million of the total affected population. The typhoons left large areas isolated, submerging parts of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga. In the hardest-hit provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, residents say the current flooding is the worst they have experienced in decades. As areas affected by typhoons Nesat and Nalgae set out on the road to recovery, a new storm – Tropical Depression Banyan (local name: Ramon) – crossed the central islands on Wednesday 12 October, leaving 10 people dead, and affecting some 16,700 families (75,600 people) in 164 villages across eight cities and 11 provinces. Tropical Depression Banyan brought rains and flooding, mostly in Visayas and Mindanao islands. Central and Northern Luzon were spared the full force. For now, floodwater has mostly receded and a clearer picture of the extent of damage and nature of needs has emerged. However, at the time of drafting this appeal, the national weather bureau had reported that additional two or three tropical cyclones are expected to enter the Philippine territory before the end of 2011. The weather bureau has also advised that the effects of a weak La Niña likely to begin in December 2011 could bring heavy rains that may last into 2012, including in Central and Northern Luzon. As such, while the worst seems over for now, the risk remains of new storms hitting in the near future. Potential fresh rains and new storms would further weaken the coping mechanisms of people who have been hard hit already. Prior to the typhoons, many of the affected people were engaged in agriculture – as owners or labourers. Stocks of food and items that affected people were relying on were damaged by floodwater, leaving many in the affected communities dependent on relief support. While a number of local organizations have distributed relief, humanitarian services in some sectors have not been provided according to SPHERE standards. Furthermore, there are gaps as regards demand for humanitarian services. There is therefore a need to provide more assistance to affected communities, ranging from relief to recovery.