The Philippine Red Cross' Haiyan Journey
Ms. Gwendolyn Pang - Secretary General of The Philippine Red
Cross
Sen. Richard Gordon - Chaiman of the Philippine Red Cross
Mr. Kari Isoma - Head of Country Delegation, IFRC
Mr. Wolde Saugeron - Communications Coordinator, ICRC
Two struggling and hopeful years have been past, for the victims of the toughest typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) to ever hit the Philippines and breaking global history. They say the Filipinos are considered the most resilient people in the world. A lot of stories has been told, enormous amounts of comments, news, reactions and feed backs had surfaced, but still, the top and most viable question for today for the victims of typhoon Haiyan would be : "How are they doing after two years?"
As early as November 6, Philippine Red Cross (PRC)
Chapters were advised by its chairman Richard Gordon to take immediate
precautionary measures, and mobilize units for the consolidation of supplies,
vehicles, equipment, and manpower. On November 7, Chairman Gordon sent a text
blast to all PRC chapters to activate response units in the respective areas,
which were previously identified.
During this time, the PRC leadership also called for
an emergency meeting with Movement Partners (International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC), Australian RC, Spanish RC, German RC, The Netherland RC, Finish
RC). Together, they discussed the plans on how to address the immediate needs
and life-saving measures to the vulnerable population affected by typhoon
Haiyan.
Haiyan made landfall on November 8, and in less
than 48 hours, PRC was on the grounds removing debris to open up main roads
(more than 10,000 cubic meters of debris were collected), dispensing 68,702 hot
meals and food supplies to hungry survivors, and attending to the medical needs
of every citizen. While other agencies were still organizing plans and
mobilizing their units, PRC was already delivering crucial services to the
people.
On November 11, the PRC organized an additional
humanitarian convoy that brought relief supplies (food and non-food), rescue
equipment, transport vehicles, ambulances, pay loaders, and water tankers. Part
of the convoy were trained and skilled personnel of the PRC and Red Cross 143
volunteers, tasked to assist and provide immediate and life-saving support to
the disaster affected population in Central Philippines.
In addition to food and water, one of the essential
items that were distributed during the relief operation was the emergency
shelter repair kit that helped 51,185 families to start the repair and
construction of their damaged homes.
Since line of communication was disrupted in areas
affected by Typhoon Haiyan, the PRC deployed its communication kit, helping
survivors get in touch with their families. With the help of PRC’s partner
mobile network, satellite phones were provided and the PRC was able to
reconnect 35,230 families.
While the PRC units were busy on the ground,
Chairman Gordon was also coordinating help with foreign partners, and ensuring
that their donations were brought to the affected areas safely and as swiftly
as possible.
During the emergency phase of the operation, around
230,000 families were supported with essential household items (blankets,
mosquito nets, plastic mats, water containers, hygiene kits, kitchen sets, and
tarpaulins) – making it as the biggest operation in the history of the
Philippine Red Cross.
Red Cross’ housing project for
Yolanda survivors nearing completion
More
than 66,000 families now have safer, more disaster resilient homes in typhoon
Yolanda (Haiyan) affected areas, as the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has already completed
86 percent of its target number of homes to be built in its shelter project
under its typhoon Haiyan recovery program.
As of
date, a total of 66,011 families were provided shelter out of the target
80,203, which is targeted to be completed until the end of 2016. This is the
largest ever shelter assistance that the Red Cross has provided in any
post-disaster operations locally and globally, in terms of number of houses
built and amount of shelter assistance provided.
“What we
are doing is not just building shelter for the families affected. More
importantly, we are giving them back their dignity, which is why families are
involved from the beginning in the process of building their homes,” said
Richard Gordon, chairman and CEO of the PRC.
In
building shelter, the PRC involves the community in all aspects of the building
process. The beneficiaries themselves were part of the consultations regarding
designs and plans for the shelters that the Red Cross and its partners were to
build for them. Beneficiaries are even involved in the actual building of the
houses.
Houses
built trough the PRC housing project were built employing the “build back
better” principle for disaster resilience and have been proven to withstand
some of the strongest typhoons that came after Yolanda.
The
shelter project covers the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Cebu, Eastern
Samar, Iloilo, Leyte, Palawan, and Western Samar; as well as the cities of
Bogo, Ormoc and Tacloban.
“Providing
shelter for families affected by Yolanda would not be possible without the
support of our partners, private companies who supported our shelter program,
and our partners in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement,” said Gordon.
The
housing project is supported by PRC’s partners in the International Red Cross
Red Crescent (RCRC) Movement, composed of the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies (IFRC) and several National Societies.
RCRC
National Societies involved in the Haiyan housing project include Finnish Red
Cross, Spanish Red Cross, German Red Cross, Hong Kong Red Cross, Taiwan Red
Cross, French Red Cross, Japanese Red Cross, Norwegian Red Cross, British Red
Cross, American Red Cross, Australian Red Cross, Netherlands Red Cross, Palang
Merah Indonesia (PMI) or Indonesian Red Cross,
Qatar Red Crescent Society, Swiss Red Cross, and Bahrain Red Crescent. PRC’s
private partners that have contributed to the housing project include Air Asia,
HSBC, CUBE, Citibank, and AusAID.
Red Cross Chairman Dick Gordon during conference of the second year commemoration of Typhoon Haiyan held at Philippine Red Cross Tower at Boni, Mandaluyong City.
Philippine Red Cross Tower in Boni, Mandaluyong City
Red Cross Haiyan assistance restored livelihoods, shelter, community
facilities and services
As
of end of October, 884,228 people have benefitted from PRC’s Haiyan Recovery
Program which includes services ranging from shelter, livelihood,
cash relief assistance, water and sanitation, hygiene promotion, and
rehabilitation of classrooms.
“The
success of our Haiyan operations would not have been possible without the
support of our partners in the Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) Movement and
private partners who have generously contributed to help alleviate the
suffering of those whose lives have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
Because of the massive destruction caused by Haiyan, there was also a massive
outpouring of support that came to us that helped restore people’s lives and
dignity,” said PRC chairman Richard Gordon.
To
date, PRC’s Haiyan Recovery program has built 66,011 homes out of the target
80,203 or 86 percent of the target number of houses to be built, amounting to
around 2.2 billion pesos. The Red Cross Haiyan shelter program is spread across
nine Haiyan-affected provinces: Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Cebu, Eastern Samar,
Iloilo, Leyte, Palawan, and Western Samar.
During
the emergency phase, the Red Cross was able to provide emergency cash relief
assistance to 90,779 families, the biggest ever cash transfer programming
operations in the RCRC Movement history after an emergency or disaster. A total
of PhP 281,529,400 or USD 6,256,208 was disbursed to affected families in a
matter of four months from December 2013 to March 2014. Unconditional cash
relief given per family ranged from PhP2,000 to PhP5,000.
Provision
of shelter was augmented with livelihood assistance in the form of
livelihood cash grants that beneficiaries used to start a new livelihood source
or restart their lost livelihood. As of date, 59,218 families out of the target
62,289 households or 95 percent of the target number of beneficiaries, have
been provided with livelihood assistance through conditional cash
grants. The total amount of livelihood assistance to date is P592,180,000.
Aside
from housing and livelihood, PRC also focused on health, sanitation and
education. Through the Haiyan recovery operations, there are now 32 schools
with improved access to water and sanitation facilities and 38 health
facilities that have been repaired and reconstructed, which will cater to
222,618 individuals based on the population of the area.
The
education sector was not left behind as the Red Cross also focused on restoring
classrooms so students can go back to their classes. As of date, 410
classrooms have already been rehabilitated and reconstructed, of which 39,165
students have benefitted. There were also 5,083 students who have received
school kits from the Red Cross.
Red Cross staff,
volunteers beat all odds to reach affected areas in the aftermath of Haiyan
In the aftermath of super typhoon Haiyan, Philippine Red
Cross (PRC) staff and volunteers
It was a race against time as Philippine Red Cross (PRC)
staff and volunteers beat the odds of logistics problems, difficulty of access,
and the pressing need to reach the affected areas to be able to bring
life-saving relief items and services to those who have been affected by super
typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).
So far, the Philippine Red Cross has really did their job well. Congrats to the team most especially to Chairman Gordon!
If you wish to get involved and show you support, you can also be a Red Cross volunteer just contact them and go to their website, click here
You can also view the pictures form the conference held at Philippine Red Cross tower here.
Thank you for always being here amazing peeps! Hope it wouldn't take much of your time if I'd ask you to
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Ciao! 'Til our next!
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