CERF allocates nearly $7 million for emergency assistance to tropical storm Ketsana- affected populations in the Philippines
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| Police evacuates an elderly couple in Manila [Photo: IRIN] |
5 October 2009: An allocation of nearly $7 million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will assist an estimated one million people severely affected by recent flooding in the Philippines.
Tropical Storm Ketsana (locally referred to as Ondoy) made landfall in and around Manila on 26 September 2009. The storm arrived along with heavy rains and caused the worst flooding in four decades, leaving 80 percent of Manila underwater. As of 4 October the official death toll stood at 288, with 42 people missing. The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported that 3.2 million people have been affected by the storm and accompanying floods.
The World Food Programme (WFP) will receive the largest allocation, some $3 million, to provide immediate food aid to those most affected by the flooding and to ensure the coordination of telecommunications and air services within the humanitarian community. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will receive $1.1 million to establish emergency water and sanitation support for women and children. Programme beneficiaries will receive water and sanitation supplies, and stagnant rainwater will be drained to prevent water-borne disease, a primary humanitarian concern. Another $1.5 million will go to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNICEF to provide affected families with non-food items and basic shelter materials for those displaced from their homes. Some $450,000 will go to IOM for camp coordination and management. The World Health Organization (WHO) will receive nearly $600,000 to provide emergency health care to those affected by the storms. In addition, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will receive some $200,000 to provide reproductive health care for affected women.
In addition, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will use some $173,000 to help meet the IDPs’ reproductive health needs, while the World Health Organization will use some $433,000 to support the Department of Health’s efforts to help the displaced by provide enough essential medicines and medical supplies to reduce preventable diseases in some 50,000 families.
[Last update: 5 October 2009]
CERF allocates $5.2 million for emergency assistance to victims of conflicts in central Mindanao in the Philippines
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| Chilren at an evacuation camp in southern Philippines [Photo: IRIN] |
24 July 2009: To bolster ongoing aid efforts to help hundreds of thousands of people in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, John Holmes, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, has allocated some $5.2 million in emergency aid from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).A recent resurgence of conflict in Mindanao has increased the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Recent United Nations assessment missions found high rates of food insecurity and malnutrition among the displaced and cited an urgent need for shelter materials, as well as access to basic health care as rainy season has begun.
The
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will use some $ 1 million dollars to support the Philippines Government in helping to improve shelter and water and sanitation facilities in the camps by taking steps such as constructing latrines for displaced persons. The
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will receive some $1.6 million to help more than 160,000 IDPs, including some 55,000 children under five years of age, gain better access to basic nutrition for the next two months. For its part, the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will receive some $1.4 million to carry out emergency programmes to combat the effects of diarrhea, malnutrition and anemia in 90,000 children under six years of age. In separate projects,
UNICEF will also work to start up programmes to ensure that IDPs and the families who host them have better access to clean water, and that children receive protection and education services, even in an emergency setting.
[Last update: 6 August 2009]