Courtesy of GMA News TV
BBC reported despite the increased aid effort, many survivors still badly need food, water and shelter, aid officials say.
There has been criticism of relief efforts, as the damage to transport links and bad weather are hindering distribution of relief supplies.
However, Philippine Interior Minister Mar Roxas told the BBC that relief efforts were on track.
According to CNN, desperation grew among Filipinos who've been without electricity or shelter for more than a week since Super Typhoon Haiyan reduced homes to splinters, prompting the military to alter rescue maneuvers, an official said Saturday.
"People swarm the helicopters, so we land the helicopters a little bit farther from the population areas," said Maj. Gen. Romer Poquiz of the Philippine Air Force. "So before the people come in, we would take off, go and drop in other places, drop and then go, drop, go, drop, go, at various places."
Several countries, including the U.S. military, continued to assist Philippine authorities in a massive relief effort of delivering food and water to the devastated swaths of the archipelago. The central government is being criticized for a slow and disorganized response to what all agree is a catastrophic disaster.
SunStar Dumaguete reported the non-government organization Oriental Negros Children’s Advocacy Network (Oncan) delivered another batch of food, clothing and household items for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in Eastern Samar.
Oncan president Marietta Jambora told Sun.Star that the relief goods were shipped out Tuesday evening via Roll-on, Roll-off (Roro) Cokaliong Lines. Jambora said the nine-ton goods are intended for 1,707 families.
She said they sent the first batch of goods, about 15 tons, to Tacloban City on November 23 via a C130 plane of the Philippine Air Force on November 23. The shipment, she added, was made in cooperation with mthe 302nd Infantry Brigade of the Philippine Army.
SunStar Cebu also reported as more foreign aid pours into the Philippines, local government units in southern Cebu yesterday brought assistance to areas in the north, which were devastated by super typhoon Yolanda.
Among the foreign donors was the Chinese Government, which donated tents and cash despite its territorial conflict with the Philippines.
The Cebu Provincial Government, on the other hand, received US$500,000 worth of medicines from the Israeli Government, which sent a medical team to the Severo Virallo Memorial Hospital in Bogo City to treat typhoon survivors.
On the other hand, Philippine Daily Inquirer reported the death toll from Super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) is now at 5,632, the National Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Saturday.
The number of typhoon fatalities is expected to rise as 1, 759 people remain missing and at least 26, 136 others were wounded after “Yolanda” flattened entire communities in the Visayas early this month, the NDRRMC said.
A total of 1,168,909 houses were damaged, with 582,827 totally destroyed and 586,082 partially damaged, affecting over three million families from 12,014 barangays affected by the monster typhoon, it said.
In its latest report, the disaster management agency said the cost of damage wrought by the typhoon has reached P30.6 billion–P14.9 billion to infrastructure and P15.6 billion to agriculture. The government and aid agencies have shelled out P708 million worth of relief assistance to the affected families.
PDI stressed out the total foreign aid pledges, according to the government’s Foreign Aid Transparency Hub(FAiTH) , have reached P18,206,646,580.80 while the total foreign aid received is at P532,641,084.55.
No comments:
Post a Comment