Top UN official to assess RP storm damage next week

MANILA, Philippines - United Nations (UN) humanitarian chief John Holmes will start a two-day visit to the Philippines on Monday to review relief efforts in response to the devastating tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng,” the UN said Friday.

Holmes, currently touring Yemen to assess the humanitarian needs of civilians displaced by two months of warfare in the north of the country, was to confer with President Arroyo, Cabinet ministers, UN officials and donors, UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said.

She said Holmes’ upcoming trip follows recent reports of a serious situation in northern Luzon “as a result of incessant rainfall exacerbating the floods and the number in people in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.”

 The death toll from two weeks of unprecedented storms across the northern Philippines soared past 540 on Friday after landslides consumed homes and neck-deep floods inundated towns.

At least 181 people were killed in a series of rain-triggered landslides overnight Thursday and on Friday in mountainous regions of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, local officials reported.

The downstream farming plains of central Luzon were inundated with waters that reached two storeys high after dams in the mountains could not hold the phenomenal amount of water that has fallen on the region.

Montas said a flash appeal for $74 million launched by the UN to support Philippine government relief efforts has so far been funded with $13.6 million, 18 percent of the amount needed.

Meanwhile Ann Veneman, the executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), on Thursday visited Pasig City, part of the Manila metropolitan area and one of the hardest-hit districts, to inspect the damage caused by the storm and the subsequent massive flooding.

She also met with Mrs. Arroyo to discuss the relief response and how Unicef can best assist flood victims.

Unicef said it has provided authorities in Pasig City and other neighborhoods with family kits containing items such as water cans, blankets, mosquito nets and sleeping mats.

Water and hygiene kits are also being issued to ensure that families have clean water for drinking and cooking, it added.

Massive relief from UN-WFP

Two of the three heavy lift helicopters the UN sent to the country to help in rescue and relief operations in flood-stricken provinces arrived yesterday.

Stephen Anderson of the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) said the Russian-made M1-171s helicopters came from Turkey.

Anderson said a third one is pulling out from its international humanitarian mission in Laos and is expected to arrive in the next few days.

He added that the three helicopters, the counterpart of the Chinooks of the US military, are capable of transporting 2.5 metric tons of cargo or 22 passengers each.

“This will strengthen the ability of the Philippine government and humanitarian agencies to reach thousands who are cut off and isolated by the floods,” he said.

Aside from food, the WFP has been airlifting other urgently needed supplies and equipment into the country in recent days, including seven inflatable boats with outboard engines – the first of 30 requested by the Philippine government – and four large generators to provide power for field hospitals and other critical government facilities, including the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).

Recently, the Japanese government donated $4.5 million to the UN-WFP to help feed hundreds of thousands of flood victims in the country.

The contribution, the largest to date in support of the WFP’s flood relief efforts, will be used to buy 6,700 metric tons of rice, enough to provide food assistance to 670,000 evacuees for a month.

“This contribution from the government and the people of Japan could not have been more generous, nor more timely,” said Anderson during a disaster briefing with Defense Secretary and NDCC chair Gilbert Teodoro at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City yesterday.

Expressing gratitude on behalf of the government for the outpouring of assistance from the international community, Teodoro said the UN assistance would further bolster ongoing emergency rescue and evacuation operations being undertaken in disaster-stricken Ilocos Region as well as in Metro Manila and nearby provinces ravaged by Ondoy two weeks ago.

He said aside from damaged infrastructure like highways and bridges, widespread flooding in Ilocos, Central Luzon, and Cagayan Valley also destroyed farmers’ crops.

“This (problem) is best articulated by (Agriculture) Secretary Arthur Yap that the concern was in agricultural damage. There are several challenges now that must be overcome. There are isolated communities. We’ve learned of the tragedy in Benguet and these have to be looked into as soon as possible,” Teodoro said.

UN monitoring teams reported that floods caused by Ondoy last Sept. 26 affected about four million people.

That number does not include the hundreds of thousands hit hard this week by typhoon “Pepeng” in northern Luzon.

The UN and the Philippine government have already issued a flash appeal to all UN member states for $75-million in assistance.

The UN said the WFP urgently needs $26 million to be able to provide food assistance, air services, logistical support and emergency telecommunications to about one million people affected the most by floods.

Aside from Japan, other donors have also contributed to the WFP’s food relief efforts in the Philippines.

These include the UN CERF (Central Emergency Fund), $3 million; Spain, $2 million; Australia A$3 million and $600,000 from an international non-government organization.    – John Unson, Jaime Laude