No pictures can prepare you for the shock of seeing Tacloban with your own eyes.
Typhoon Yolanda has turned a once-vibrant city into a carpet of twisted steel, rubble and uprooted palm trees. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and livelihoods, all washed away by a ten foot wall of water. Across the city families are mourning the loss of their mothers, daughters, fathers and sons.
I know the suffering of the people I met in Tacloban on Sunday has been felt by millions across the Philippines. In Roxas, Guiuan, Ormoc and countless other villages and towns in the central islands, the victims of one of the most powerful storms on record are now figuring out how to rebuild their lives.
But amongst the devastation, there is hope. In Tacloban the roads have been cleared, schools have reopened and British surgeons have been helping to treat the injured.
The global response to this tragedy, in which Britain has played a leading role, has delivered food, clean water and shelter to millions of people in desperate need.
The extent to which the British people have been deeply affected by the tragedy is reflected clearly in the size of our response.
So far the UK Government has committed more than £55 million, nearly P4 billion, of support to the people of the Philippines to help them through this crisis. And these Government efforts have been matched by the overwhelming generosity of the British public, who have given another P4 billion from their own pockets to help the people of the Philippines.
The UK Government has been working with the Government of the Philippines to bring food and safe drinking water to over 200,000 people, deliver over 10,000 hygiene kits to keep people healthy and supply building materials to help 25,000 people rebuild their homes. Six more flights will bring thousands of tents, blankets and cooking sets to those who lost their homes in the storm.
The British Navy has also played a major role in delivering aid to the most remote islands. On Saturday I boarded HMS Daring, a Navy ship that has been touring the country bringing aid and medical treatment to villages that otherwise may not have been reached.
The crew told me how people in islands like Canas, Calagnaan and Tulunanaun had been spelling out ‘help’ with rocks, twigs or any kind of debris to get their attention. Villagers had been sleeping under rubbish because they had no other way of getting shelter before the ship arrived with tents and blankets.’
Yesterday [Monday] the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious arrived to replace Daring, carrying 500 tons of aid which will be flown around the islands by the ship’s seven helicopters.
We have also been working behind the scenes to make sure the global response to this crisis is coordinated and that supplies reach the people who need it as quickly as possible. One UK aid flight, carrying crucial airport loading equipment to Cebu airbase, the country’s international aid hub, has doubled the amount of supplies that can flow through the airbase.
However, while we are busy making sure the victims of this crisis receive the urgent help they need now, we must also look to the future.
That is why on the weekend I announced a 350 million peso UK programme that will help up to four cities in the Philippines invest in measures such as flood protection and drainage systems. We must stop the damage Yolanda has inflicted from ever happening again.
Britain will stay the course with the Philippines over the coming months and years as it rebuilds the shattered cities, towns and villages of the central islands. This is an enormous challenge, but the people of the Philippines will not face it alone.