UN exec denies probe on typhoon aid diversion

MANILA, Philippines - An official of the United Nations yesterday denied that the international body will probe the alleged non-delivery of aid to areas ravaged by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Bernard Kerblat, Philippine representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs Valerie Amos was merely asking a question when she talked about areas that may not have received aid.

“We are not talking about a probe here,” Kerblat told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

“Simply, what happened was the emergency relief coordinator Ms. Valerie Amos just asked a question. Could it be the case that perhaps, given the gravity of the situation, the severity of situation, the geographic spread, could it be the case perhaps some isolated islands with sparse population may not have been reached yet,” he added.

In a press briefing in Canberra, Australia last Monday, Amos cited reports that some people had not been reached by aid.

“Although we’ve got significant aid now coming into the major centers, we still have a little bit of a worry that in a couple of the smaller islands, there may be needs that we haven’t managed to meet yet,” the reports quoted Amos as saying.

But Kerblat said Amos was “simply asking the question and it’s not a question of probing whether assistance has reached everybody.”

He also cited the Philippine government’s efforts to help people affected by Yolanda.

“It is very important we keep in mind the magnitude on the number of people who, unfortunately because of the logistics, because of the spread, the spreading of the island factors and the rest of it, makes the delivery of assistance difficult to reach,” Kerblat said.

The “acrimonious debate” on the response efforts should be set aside for now and that energy should be focused on assisting the typhoon victims, he added.

No food donation from UK

Meanwhile, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) did not get any foodstuff donation from the United Kingdom.

She was reacting to a report last Sunday of British tabloid The Daily Mail that donations from the UK intended for Yolanda victims are being sold for profit by corrupt local officials.

The report said emergency supplies delivered by military helicopters have turned up on the shelves of shops in affluent districts of Manila.

The British embassy in Manila also denied that its aid has been diverted.

In a phone interview, Soliman lamented why The Daily Mail’s report was given attention by local media.

The DSWD chief also stressed that The Daily Mail has a poor image in the UK.

“It is a tabloid in London... I’m surprised that The Philippine STAR lifted a story from that tabloid,” she said.

“We did not receive any (food items) from the UK,” she added.

Soliman said she was aware of donations received by the DSWD from UK organization Shelterbox, but these were tents.

“All other donations were consigned to NGOs (non-government organizations),” she added.

Stress debriefing

The DSWD also said that it is now focusing more on the conduct of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) with Yolanda survivors.

The CISD is a process that prevents or limits the development of post-traumatic stress in people exposed to critical incidents. It will help survivors cope with and recover from the after-effects of a calamity. –  With Rhodina Villanueva, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rainier Allan Ronda