http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbWed, 18 Nov 2009 10:14:07 GMTBANGKOK Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (IRIN) - The UN has warned of serious health risks and food security problems over a lack of funding to assist the Philippines after the country was hit by three major storms and typhoons.BANGKOK Wednesday, November 18, 2009 (IRIN) - The UN has warned of serious health risks and food security problems over a lack of funding to assist the Philippines after the country was hit by three major storms and typhoons.

“The emergency response is being hampered by low levels of funding, particularly in areas such as agriculture, protection, shelter and education of children,” Jacqueline Badcock, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Philippines, said in a statement on 18 November.

The UN launched a flash appeal for US$74 million in Manila on 7 October after tropical storm Ketsana flooded the nation’s capital and outlying regions in late September.

Before the country could recover, Typhoon Parma hit on 3 October, and then Typhoon Mirinae on 31 October, bringing widespread damage and misery. The additional devastation, which has affected 10 million people, led to a revised appeal (see: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EDIS-7XUQ73?OpenDocument) this week of $143.7 million from humanitarian agencies.

Donors have only handed over $26 million in funding to date – about 36 percent of the original $74 million requested, or 18.6 percent of the revised $143.7 million, according to the UN.

If funding levels do not increase substantially, about 1.7 million people living in or displaced from areas that are still flooded face serious health and protection risks, warned Badcock’s office.

Some 350,000 people may not be able to return to or rebuild their homes and more than one million children may not be able to resume their education, it said.

The disasters severely affected the critical planting season in Northern Luzon, the country’s main agricultural region, and preliminary assessments cited in the revised appeal showed some 100,000-120,000 farming households had lost 100 percent of their production and assets.

“The November planting season might be missed, which has longer-term implications for food security,” the statement added.

In a separate interview, Badcock told IRIN that donors had been waiting for more information about the scale of damage caused, and that the first appeal had not fully assessed the extent of the devastation.

“The extent of the appeal and the damage was not really well understood by everybody until all the assessments were done,” she said.

“This revised [appeal] has a lot more analysis … we hope it will provide more clarity and confidence to the donors that these are real needs."

Early recovery

The total revised amount of $143,774,080 will cover the immediate and early recovery needs of 4.2 million people, including more than 520,000 children under the age of five. This is twice the population covered under the original appeal.

The revised appeal is planned to run until March 2010 and is being presented on 18 November to donors and the government in Manila, UN officials said.

“The urgent needs remain the people who live in evacuation centres, who need continuing assistance with food and shelter,” said Badcock.

“Then there are farms where the water is going down. We need to get those farmers rehabilitated and planting out for the next season, and their families need food for the next three months because they lost their harvest,” she said.

“Water and sanitation remain critical, particularly in the flooded areas, where there are huge Filariasis [http://www.who.int/topics/filariasis/en/] and Dengue [http://www.who.int/topics/dengue/en/] concerns.”

Early recovery efforts are needed to assist people in restoring their livelihoods, as well as fully restoring schools that are damaged or being used as evacuation centres, she said.

The appeal is being made by UN agencies, NGOs, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87094BANGKOK Friday, November 13, 2009 (IRIN) - A recent spate of natural disasters in Asia has further underscored the importance of breastfeeding during emergencies, with a need for additional policies to support this.BANGKOK Friday, November 13, 2009 (IRIN) -  A recent spate of natural disasters in Asia has further underscored the importance of breastfeeding during emergencies, with a need for additional policies to support this.
 
Hundreds of thousands were displaced and forced into evacuation shelters following a series of deadly typhoons in the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, and an earthquake in Indonesia in the past two months.
 
But according to experts, during such disasters, support for mothers to breastfeed is often overlooked and not given the priority it needs, despite its life-saving function.
 
Besides raising awareness of the importance of breastfeeding, aid organizations need to have policies on infant feeding, they say.

“You have to have a strong policy in place, and make sure all the actors and all the staff in that organization know about this policy,” Anna Winoto, a nutrition specialist with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Indonesia, told IRIN.
 
In emergency situations, poor water and sanitation and security situations contribute to a heightened risk of disease among children, who are vulnerable to diarrhoea, malnutrition and pneumonia.
 
Practices such as using infant formula milk, when water may be contaminated and feeding bottles cannot be sterilized, contributes to the risk and has been shown to lead to an increase in diarrhoeal disease in infants.
 
“Breastfeeding is actually even more crucial under emergency conditions because children under five, and infants in particular, are at an increased risk of infection, disease and malnutrition,” Winoto said.
 
“Breastfeeding should be seen as a life-saving intervention,” she said.
 
In an emergency situation, establishing private spaces for mothers and infants, one-to-one counselling and mother-to-mother support is needed to encourage breastfeeding, say UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).
 
“As part of emergency preparedness, hospitals and other healthcare services should have trained health workers who can help mothers establish breastfeeding and overcome difficulties,” said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan in a statement to mark World Breastfeeding Week in August.
 
Both UNICEF and WHO advocate exclusive breastfeeding for children up to six months of age, and continued breastfeeding and complementary feeding until age two.
 
Dangerous donations
 
But one obstacle to breastfeeding during emergencies is unsolicited or uncontrolled donations of breast-milk substitutes, which undermine breastfeeding, according to UNICEF and WHO.

Following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in West Sumatra on 30 September, UNICEF Indonesia, worked with the country’s Health Ministry, and contacted local and national radio stations to broadcast requests to stop milk-substitute donations.
 
“It’s a huge problem, and the problem lies in the lack of knowledge among the donors on the potential harm,” said Winoto.
 
Meanwhile, coordination in emergencies also remains a challenge, with little capacity to locate only those children who truly need infant formula and not disrupt breastfeeding practices, she said.
 
“In our experience, it’s gotten better but it’s still a huge challenge because there are so many actors when an emergency comes, and so many donations,” she said.
 
Helping with trauma
 
Besides the health benefits, breastfeeding advocates underline the psycho-social benefit of maintaining the activity during an emergency, which is traumatic for babies and young children, experts say.
 
“In an emergency, keeping the baby on the breast is not only about nutrition, it is giving the child that security and closeness when it is scared,” Elvira Henares-Esguerra, director of the Philippine NGO Children for Breastfeeding, [http://breastfeedingphilippines.com/cfb.html] told IRIN.
 
In the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana, which caused massive flooding in the Philippines in September, Henares-Esguerra and a handful of breastfeeding mothers with their children visited an evacuation centre.
 
They demonstrated breastfeeding practices, and encouraged displaced mothers to do the same.
 
“We discovered that infant formula was being given out by the government at evacuation centres,” said Henares-Esguerra.
 
“We wanted to encourage the mothers to breastfeed,” she said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87020DUSHANBE Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Even as world food production grows, hunger is on the rise in many poor countries, according to the Global Crop Prospects and Food Situation report for November, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 12 November.DUSHANBE Thursday, November 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Even as world food production grows, hunger is on the rise in many poor countries, according to the Global Crop Prospects and Food Situation report for November [http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/ak340e/ak340e00.htm], published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 12 November.

The report highlights a contradiction: world cereal production is at its second-highest level ever, yet food prices remain very high. It identifies 77 countries that are both low-income and food deficit.

In East Africa, cereal prices range from 68 percent to 177 percent over the 2007 numbers. In southern Africa, prices are 58-200 percent higher than in 2007, and in most of Asia prices are up 40-70 percent. Since most low-income food deficit countries are food importers, they lose far more from high prices than they gain from steady crop production.

Hunger, in most cases, is caused by lack of money rather than a shortage of food production, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). [http://www.wfp.org/hunger/causes] In 2008 the number of undernourished people in the world increased by 40 million, despite record harvests. [http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/8836/icode/]

The new FAO report suggests that 2009 is likely to see a similar increase in hunger.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87006JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (IRIN) - A move by donor countries to provide aid agencies with cash, allowing them the flexibility to source cheaper or more appropriate food in the region or beneficiary country and save on transport and warehousing costs, is not addressing nutritional needs, according to a new report.JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (IRIN) - A move by donor countries to provide aid agencies with cash, allowing them the flexibility to source cheaper or more appropriate food in the region or beneficiary country and save on transport and warehousing costs, is also not addressing nutritional needs, according to a new report.

Food aid should include foodstuffs fortified with micronutrients and animal protein. "The emphasis is more on quantity rather than quality, and rarely does the food aid target the most vulnerable groups: children under five, pregnant women and lactating mothers," said Stéphane Doyon, of the international medical charity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a co-author of the organization's report, Malnutrition: how much is being spent?

"Barely 1.7 percent of interventions reported as 'development food aid/food security' and 'emergency food aid' between 2004 and 2007 actually address nutrition needs," he said.

The MSF report was published ahead of a new UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report, which points out that the level of child and maternal undernutrition "remains unacceptable" throughout the world; 90 percent of the developing world's chronically undernourished or stunted children live in Asia and Africa.

jk/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86993MUNTINLUPA Monday, November 09, 2009 (IRIN) - Seventy-two year-old grandmother Jovita Ramos's arthritic hands could hardly stop shaking as she stood in line for assistance. MUNTINLUPA Monday, November 09, 2009 (IRIN) - Seventy-two year-old grandmother Jovita Ramos's arthritic hands could hardly stop shaking as she stood in line for assistance.
 
Her home in Muntinlupa District - just an hour's drive south of Manila in Luzon island, the worst-affected of all the islands - is still flooded six weeks after the first of four typhoons hammered the Philippines.
 
Like many of her neighbours, Ramos, her two children and four grandchildren were evacuated to a temporary shelter after tropical storm Ketsana. The ensuing flooding washed away entire communities in Manila and outlying areas, including Muntinlupa, a city of 500,000 on the banks of Laguna de Bay.
 
Now they have begun returning, but face new challenges.
 
"It was so difficult living in the evacuation centre. Food and water were difficult, and my grandchildren who are still little often got sick," Ramos said, clutching a crude staff to keep her balance.
 
"So we decided to return here, but our house is still under water," she said.
 
Ramos's close friend, 70-year-old Armando Anciaga, said many of his relatives in the lake-shore slum of Putatan in Muntinlupa also had no choice but to return.
 
Most of the families traditionally relied on fishing in Laguna de Bay, a heavily silted 90,000-hectare body of water around which developers erected poorly-planned housing estates in recent years.
 
"We may have angered the lake, and it is now reclaiming land that in the past it once owned," Anciaga shrugged, adding that the last major flooding to have hit the area was in 1972, but on a much smaller scale.
 
"Now we have to rely on donations and help from the outside. But one day, they will also tire of giving, and what will happen to us then?" Anciaga said.
 
His two adult sons and their wives have gone to Manila in search of work, leaving him to care for four young children whom he said had not eaten a proper meal in two weeks.
 
Exactly a week after Ketsana, Typhoon Parma battered northern Luzon Island, causing heavy damage to agriculture and dumping more rain on already flooded areas.
 
A third Typhoon, Lupit, spared the country in late October, but days later, Typhoon Mirinae caused additional havoc.
 
Nine million affected
 
More than 1,125 people died from the typhoons, including 167 who succumbed to leptospirosis, a flood-borne disease caused by exposure to water contaminated with rat and other animal urine.
 
According to the country’s National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC),  more than nine million people were affected by the back-to-back storms.
 
The UN launched a flash appeal for US$74 million for one million people in immediate need of assistance, but as of 9 November, only 36 percent of the total had been pledged or received.
 
President Arroyo has set up a special reconstruction committee to find ways of draining flooded areas, which experts have warned would probably remain flooded well into next year, directly affecting over one million people living near the lake.
 
"Transitional communities"
 
Ida Mae Fernandez, project officer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the agency was now looking at setting up "transitional communities" to provide semi-permanent shelters in devastated areas.
 
"Through the camp coordination/camp management and emergency shelter clusters of government, the IOM continues to discuss the exact feasibility of this strategy, applied in the current situation, because setting up of transitional communities means constructing transitional shelters - which may take more time than what we have, in terms of immediately and urgently alleviating the situation of communities still under water," Fernandez told IRIN.
 
"While it was not an inherent concern in the affected communities before Ketsana, now after Mirinae, the longer the water stays, the higher the risk," she warned.
 
"The cumulative effects of weekly rains and floods have increasingly and seriously impacted communities' and families' capacities to recover quickly," she said, adding that the current scenario posed "real challenges to the disaster planning continuum".
 
As of 9 November, more than 130,000 storm-displaced continue to live in more than 400 evacuation centres in Manila and outlying areas as well as elsewhere in Luzon, the NDCC reported.
 
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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86942MANILA Monday, November 02, 2009 (IRIN) - Aid workers credit a pre-emptive evacuation of more than 115,000 residents for this weekend’s minimal loss of life from Typhoon Mirinae.MANILA Monday, November 02, 2009 (IRIN) - Aid workers credit a pre-emptive evacuation of more than 115,000 residents for this weekend’s minimal loss of life from Typhoon Mirinae.

Sixteen deaths were recorded in suburban areas south of Manila and in two eastern provinces, although the heavy rains and strong winds further exacerbated the humanitarian situation for tens of thousands left homeless by two earlier devastating cyclones, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) [see: http://ndcc.gov.ph/home/] reported on 2 November.

With gusts of up to 185km/hr, Mirinae cut a westwards swathe across Luzon Island on 31 October before exiting into the South China Sea a day later.

The state weather bureau said Mirinae would likely hit Vietnam on 2 November.

"We were thankful that the public listened to authorities. People are now more aware of what to do after Ketsana and Parma," Philippine National Red Cross [see: http://www.redcross.org.ph/] secretary-general, Gwendolyn Pang, told IRIN, adding that authorities had already managed to restore power to most of the 22 towns hit by the storm.

Ketsana [see: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86312] dumped a month's worth of rain on Manila and outlying areas when it hit land on 26 September, causing the area's worst flooding in over 40 years.

A week later, Parma [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86510] pummelled northern Luzon for a week. Typhoon Lupit changed course at the last minute on 24 October, providing a break for storm-weary rescuers and a government whose disaster response mechanism has been pushed to the limit by the storms that affected more than eight million people.

While many of those evacuated by the earlier storms had returned home, Pang said relief operations would continue for 87,467 people still crammed into makeshift shelters around Manila and in surrounding provinces.

But with many flood survivors returning to their partly submerged homes, authorities have warned of more disease outbreaks. Government has recorded 167 deaths due to Leptospirosis [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86779] - a flood-borne disease caused by infection from flood waters contaminated by rat and other animal urine – in addition to 929 deaths due to devastation wrought by Ketsana and Parma.

Reconstruction

"We are now shifting relief operations to early recovery planning and reconstruction. We need to develop a residential plan for those left homeless by the floods," Pang said, noting, however, that disaster relief officials have said many areas, especially near lakes, reservoirs and rivers, would likely remain under water into 2010.

Ida Mae Fernandez, regional project officer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the agency was working on "multiple targets" to include the displaced in evacuation centres, as well as families who had stayed in their flooded homes.

"We will implement reconstruction and repair activities on basic public infrastructure, as well as repair of houses," she said.

"Also, we are gearing up to work with the Department of Health and the World Health Organization to fast-track health mitigation activities.

"Coordination of actions will be important, and IOM will focus on areas that have difficult access to ready humanitarian aid," Fernandez said.

The NDCC said Typhoon Mirinae left "remarkably less damage to lives and properties" than Ketsana and Parma.

"This is largely attributed to the pre-emptive efforts conducted by the national and local governments through the NDCC and their local counterparts, and the pre-positioning of government assets and relief items in areas which were to have been hit by the typhoon," it stated.

Residents in the direct path of Mirinae were easier to convince to leave their properties than those affected by the previous storms.

"Cooperation among all sectors is truly the best tool we must have in disaster preparation or disaster response," it stated. "We hope the lessons we learned from these past tragedies will remain with everyone, to allow for better disaster preparation and better disaster responses."

President Gloria Arroyo personally led disaster relief officials in the inspection of water levels in flood-ways around Manila and to warn residents against staying there as Mirinae was lashing the city.

Arroyo called on authorities to evacuate residents from the Lupang Arenda resettlement site in Taytay District, east of Manila. The president talked to the residents, many of whom were waiting for the waters to subside so they could salvage what was left of their belongings.

The 200ha site was originally designated a protected wetlands by the government, but in recent years has been overrun by informal settlers - a situation repeated in many other areas around Manila, exposing government's poor urban planning, which has been blamed by environmentalists for the massive flooding.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86836DATU PIANG Thursday, October 29, 2009 (IRIN) - Security is the principal concern for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mindanao when considering whether to return home.DATU PIANG Thursday, October 29, 2009 (IRIN) - Security is the principal concern for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mindanao when considering whether to return home.

"I can't return now," Ampino Lapinig said outside her one-room hut at the Notre Dame Dulawan evacuation centre in Datu Piang, where some 300 families or 1,500 people are sheltering. "It's just not safe."

A resident of the camp for more than a year, she and her family have no plans to return, despite the otherwise dire living conditions inside the camp.

According to aid agencies, water and sanitation conditions are poor [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86451], levels of malnutrition are high, and shelters are pitifully inadequate.

"Although my home is close, it's just too dangerous," said Musib Parashan, whose home in Lintukan District is just 2km from the camp.

"If the government can prove to me there is no danger I will go back. Otherwise, we will stay here," the 32-year-old said. "What guarantee is there that the fighting won't start up again?" A question heard time and again from the IDPs.

More than 250,000 displaced

In the past 16 months, some 750,000 residents have fled their homes on the southern Philippine island following an upsurge in fighting between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who have been fighting for an independent Islamic state since 1978.

And while most have returned, more than 250,000 remain in evacuation shelters or are staying with relatives, even though military operations were suspended in July, and both parties agreed to talks, hosted by Malaysia.

"At this point, it's just talk. Until I see something more concrete, I'm staying," Ampino Lapinig, 45, said, recalling how her family fled indiscriminate fighting in her village.

Further challenges

"Even if I returned, what would I be returning to?" asked Musib, who once earned US$80 per month as a day labourer. "We lost everything. We are now totally dependent on outside assistance."

Decades of conflict in Mindanao, particularly in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, have undermined the basic economic, social and human rights of most of the population.

Nearly half the people are food-insecure, and levels of malnutrition are significantly higher than in other regions of the country, the UN World Food Programme says.

Access to clean water and sanitation facilities, as well as social services such as education and healthcare, are generally limited; particularly so in remote areas, aid agencies report.

Moreover, most humanitarian indicators show that the conditions of those displaced have further deteriorated as fighting and military restrictions have reduced humanitarian access and the delivery of aid.

New accord

Joe Patrick Amara, field coordinator for the Nonviolent Peaceforce [http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/] NGO, which is working closely with those affected, says people are willing to return, but will not be able to without security and assistance.

"Many of their homes were burnt and many lost their livestock and other means of livelihood," he said. "People understand the difference between a suspension of operations and a ceasefire. If there were a ceasefire, people would be more comfortable, but we're not there yet," he said. "With a suspension, people fear things could flare up again."

Meanwhile, a new accord signed on 27 October between the 11,000 strong MILF and Manila aimed at protecting civilians gives ground for hope.

According to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue [http://www.hdcentre.org/], the Agreement on the Civilian Protection Component of the International Monitoring Team commits both parties to "take all necessary precautions to avoid incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and danger to civilian objects and to take all necessary actions to facilitate the provision of relief supplies".

The parties also agreed to expand the mandate of the international monitoring team to include civilian protection, allowing them to now monitor, verify and report on compliance by both parties.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86794MANILA Wednesday, October 28, 2009 (IRIN) - Weeks after back-to-back cyclones left nearly 1,000 people dead, the Philippines is grappling with an outbreak of a deadly flood-borne disease that has infected survivors from areas where dirty water has yet to subside, officials say.MANILA Wednesday, October 28, 2009 (IRIN) -  Weeks after back-to-back cyclones [http://www.irinnews.org/Asia-Country.aspx?Country=PH] left nearly 1,000 people dead, the Philippines is grappling with an outbreak of a deadly flood-borne disease that has infected survivors from areas where dirty water has yet to subside, officials say.
 
In a report to emergency relief agencies, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said that as of 26 October, there were 2,158 confirmed cases of Leptospirosis infections, with 167 deaths reported by the National Epidemiology Centre [http://www2.doh.gov.ph/nec/app_main.htm].
 
With more than 120,000 people crammed into evacuation centres in Manila and outlying areas that are still submerged in putrid, stagnant water, Duque said the likelihood of more outbreaks was high.
 
The deaths linked to Leptospirosis - a bacterial infection caused by contact with water contaminated by rat and other animal urine - were in addition to the 929 people who died from devastation wrought by tropical storm Ketsana, which hit on 26 September, and Typhoon Parma, a week later. According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) [http://ndcc.gov.ph/home/], more than nine million people were affected by the two storms.
 
"There is a surge in the number of hospitalized cases of Leptospirosis from among the victims of recent typhoons who have [lost] … their homes," Duque said in a memorandum order issued last week to state-run hospitals to prioritize cases of the disease.
 
"Various local government units and hospitals have reported an increasing number of cases of Leptospirosis among communities that have been submerged in flood waters and from among those who have been transferred to evacuation sites,” it read.
 
Duque said the best preventive measure to combat the disease is to drain the flooded areas and force people to move - something that government is hard-pressed to do since many areas remain inundated and some families have returned to their partly submerged homes to prevent looting.
 
As a stop-gap measure, he said the health department had sent teams to provide antibiotics to those infected while at the same time seeking the help of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) in containing the outbreak.
 
Private hospitals have also agreed to take in patients that state-run hospitals can no longer accommodate, Duque said.
 
National epidemiology chief Eric Tayag said the antibiotics were meant to cut the infection rate in half as a preventive measure.
 
Symptoms

The disease is characterized by jaundice and flu-like symptoms and ultimately renal and kidney failure, requiring dialysis.
 
WHO said the Leptospirosis bacteria commonly enters the body through skin cuts and abrasions and could begin manifesting in symptoms including severe headaches, fever, vomiting and blood-shot eyes. Meningitis and bleeding of the lungs may also occur.
 
"One out of 10 of those infected by Leptospirosis can have complications that can cause death. This includes acute renal failure," Tayag told reporters.
 
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/leptospirosis_g.htm#How%20long%20is%20it%20between%20the%20time%20of%20exposure%20and%20when%20people%20become%20sick] the time between exposure to a contaminated source and falling ill is two days to four weeks.
 
WHO has dispatched a four-man team of experts to the country to help control the outbreak.
 
"They will be assisting the government by providing technical assessments and assistance in the surveillance, epidemiological and clinical care of those who fall sick from the disease," said Soe Nyunt-U, WHO representative to the Philippines, noting that apart from Leptospirosis, thousands still living in evacuation camps where access to water and sanitation remain poor, are in danger of other infectious diseases.
 
"The situation is worsened by the fact that many hospitals and clinics are damaged or still under water, with some staff unable to get to work, either because they are marooned in evacuation centres or are still repairing their homes," he said in a statement.
 
"At the same time, victims of the floods are causing a surge in demand at the health facilities."

Meanwhile, officials are preparing for another storm. Weather forecasters say Typhoon Mirinae is about 837km west-northwest of Guam, moving westward at 32km/hr. Mirinae strengthened from a tropical storm over the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines and may reach Luzon island, where relief work continues, in the coming days.
 
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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86779HUA HIN Monday, October 26, 2009 (IRIN) - After only a few days Southeast Asia's inter-governmental human rights body is already being criticized over its terms of reference as well as its ability to have any impact on human rights in Myanmar.HUA HIN Monday, October 26, 2009 (IRIN) - After only a few days Southeast Asia's inter-governmental human rights body is already being criticized over its terms of reference as well as its ability to have any impact on human rights in Myanmar.
 
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched its Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) on 23 October with the signing of the Cha-am Hua Hin Declaration at  the 15th ASEAN summit held in Hua Hin, Thailand, over the weekend.

Thailand’s Prime Minister and ASEAN chairman Abhisit Vejjajiva said it “showed the commitment of ASEAN member-states to realize the historic quest of the people of Southeast Asia for freedom”.
 
But critics say its mandate is limited and that its undertaking to “promote human rights within the regional context, bearing in mind national and regional particularities and mutual respect for different historical, cultural and religious backgrounds” does not go far enough, given that Myanmar continues to be cited by human rights watchdogs as one of the world's worst violators.

Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, said the country’s military government had yet to demonstrate a willingness to adhere to principles of democratic governance under the ASEAN charter.
 
And ASEAN’s long-held assertion that Myanmar’s political and human rights issues were internal affairs was no longer applicable, particularly since such problems had affected other countries in the region, he said.
 
Engaging with the military

According to Charm Tong of the Shan Women’s Action Network in Myanmar, the military has stepped up operations against ethnic groups in the east ahead of next year’s election, resulting in the displacement of thousands to neighbouring Thailand and China.
 
Western sanctions are in place, although the US has reversed its previous policy by saying it would talk to the junta.
 
ASEAN has typically stressed non-interference in the internal affairs of its member states, with a notable exception in August, when a statement issued by the Thai PM in his role as ASEAN chairman expressed "deep disappointment" with the sentencing of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional 18 months house arrest.
 
Additional challenges
 
Other critics cite the composition of the AICHR.
 
According to Debbie Stothard, speaking on behalf of the ASEAN People's Forum, a network of NGOs, eight of the 10 commissioners are government appointees, with only Indonesia and Thailand allowing human rights experts and lawyers to select their commissioners.
 
Of the 10 ASEAN member states, only Indonesia is regarded by US-based watchdog Freedom House as a fully-fledged democracy, with other states ranging from flawed partial democracies to states with little freedom of speech or assembly.
 
In his closing remarks at the summit, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan attributed the divergent attitudes towards NGOs among ASEAN member-states to “different rules and regulations, which led to a differing view on how to appoint the civil society representatives”.
 
Last year, ASEAN launched a charter that pledges to reform the bloc into a European Union-style entity by 2015.The human rights body was created as part of this initiative.
 
However, according to Bridget Welsh, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at Singapore Management University, the birth pangs of the AICHR do not bode well for ASEAN development in general.
 
“The handling of the ASEAN human rights body seriously undermines the credibility of the organization and simultaneously raises questions about the transformation of the regional architecture of the organization,” she told IRIN.
 
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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86745MANILA Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Pummelled by back-to-back typhoons and facing another, the Philippines is experiencing its toughest humanitarian challenge in recent history, Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said on 23 October.MANILA Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Pummelled by back-to-back typhoons and facing another, the Philippines is experiencing its toughest humanitarian challenge in recent history, Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said on 23 October.

The agency is providing "critical" food support to more than one million of the eight million people hit by tropical storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma, which destroyed swathes of agricultural land, drowned significant parts of Manila and nearby provinces and caused deadly landslides in mountainous regions in the north.

According to the country’s National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) [http://ndcc.gov.ph/home/], the estimated cost of damage was about US$700 million, with many roads and bridges destroyed and buildings still submerged, particularly around Manila.

It said 186,416 people remained in 435 evacuation centres in Manila and northern Luzon provinces, although thousands had opted to stay in their partly submerged homes and were difficult to reach.

The Philippines had been struggling to provide assistance to those affected, Sheeran said, but with the "severe humanitarian impact" of the typhoons, its people were "now facing one of the greatest challenges in memory".

To date, the agency has airlifted about 5,000MT of food and relief items to the country, including rice, oil and high-energy biscuits imported from Turkey and Ecuador that could help provide nutrients to children and mothers vulnerable in evacuation camps.

Additional pledges were being received from France, Luxembourg, Poland and Germany, Sheeran said, stressing, however, that more international help was needed.

Targets revised

Kenro Oshidari, WFP Regional Director for Asia, said the UN food agency would have to revise upwards its targets in the next six months, stressing that the initial delivery of food was only meant for survivors of Ketsana.

And with Parma destroying acres upon acres of farmlands planted with corn and rice in the north, additional support would be needed for about half a million farmers whose crops had been inundated.

"The water, even after some four weeks, has not receded in many places, including rice fields. This really worries us because it is supposed to be harvest season and a lot of farmers have lost their crops.

"We may have to provide recovery assistance for roughly six months for these farmers," Oshidari said, adding that further assessments would have to be made to determine exactly how many would need extended recovery assistance. "We may also have to revise upwards our plan of assistance to reach more people."

Preparing for Lupit

Meanwhile, thousands of residents living along coastal areas and mountainous areas in northern Luzon have been told to evacuate to safer areas as rescue and relief officials prepare for Typhoon Lupit, expected to make landfall in northern Luzon on 25 October.

Its wide outer rain bands have begun affecting the north, and at least 182 people living in a coastal area in Aparri town were evacuated after a 20m storm surge destroyed a protective dyke.

The government had earlier delivered more than 100,000kg of food and relief items in anticipation of Lupit's arrival.

President Gloria Arroyo said government was prepared for Lupit, stressing that police and the military were on standby.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86707MANILA Tuesday, October 20, 2009 (IRIN) - Rescue and relief officials are rushing supplies and food to the north of the Philippines, while thousands of people living in areas prone to landslides and flooding were ordered on 20 October to evacuate to safer areas, as Typhoon Lupit was due to make landfall.MANILA Tuesday, October 20, 2009 (IRIN) - Rescue and relief officials are rushing supplies and food to the north of the Philippines, while thousands of people living in areas prone to landslides and flooding were ordered on 20 October to evacuate to safer areas, as Typhoon Lupit was due to make landfall.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 195km near the centre with gusts of 230km/hour, Lupit's eye was estimated at 820km east-northeast of the province of Cagayan, in the northern island of Luzon.

While it is expected to make landfall only on 22 October, its wide outer rain bands could bring heavy rains and strong winds to northern provinces a day earlier, the state weather bureau said.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) [http://ndcc.gov.ph/home/] in Manila said nearly 100 tonnes of food and other relief items had been trucked or airlifted to northern provinces where Lupit was expected to hit.

Lupit comes as the country continues to reel from the devastation wrought by twin typhoons that left 858 people dead and entire areas under flood waters for the past three weeks.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has pre-positioned US$200,000 worth of supplies to four locations in Luzon, comprising emergency kits of essential medicines, sleeping mats and purification tablets for about 8,000 families.

It said sleeping mats, blankets, water containers and cooking pots for people in evacuation centres were also sent to La Union, Benguet, Cagayan and Pangasinan - four provinces that were heavily damaged by Typhoon Parma.

"We know that many evacuation centres are running low on supplies, and many families exhausted their reserves after Typhoon Pepeng [Parma]," UNICEF country representative Vanessa Tobin said.

Evacuation order

Philippine National Red Cross chairman, Senator Richard Gordon, said thousands of people living in vulnerable areas had been told to pack up and leave.

"We're watching the dams. We've already told our people that the moment we ask them to evacuate they must spread the word. As of now, we haven't made that call yet," Gordon told IRIN.

"Everybody near rivers, near creeks, those in low-lying areas, should be moved out once it becomes necessary to do so. People who are debilitated or are differently abled, they too should be moved out," Gordon said, adding that local communities could deputize guards to watch over abandoned homes to prevent looting.

Chief state weather forecaster Prisco Nilo said Lupit was expected to bring 20-25mm of rain an hour, enough to cause flooding and landslides and more than Typhoon Parma had dumped on the north.

"It can cause storm surges, landslides and flooding," Nilo said as he issued a warning for the public to begin evacuating.

Health risks

The NDCC in Manila said both storms had affected about four million people, of whom 221,000 remain in squalid evacuation camps where relief workers are warning of a disease outbreak.

The UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines, Jacqui Badcock, said a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) [see: http://ochaonline.un.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1414] team had been sent to the north.

"They are arriving as we speak. They are ready to go out and do an assessment if Lupit hits Luzon, and if it doesn't they will get involved in relief processes," she said.

She said Lupit's arrival could add to the misery of the Philippines, and further strain government's already overstretched resources.

"You can never predict anything with a typhoon," Badcock said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86658DATU PIANG Monday, October 19, 2009 (IRIN) - When Kamesa Usop fled her home in August 2008, little did she know she would still be displaced 14 months later. Today, the 50-year-old is one of 1,500 residents of the Notre Dame Dulawan evacuation centre in Datu Piang, in conflict-affected Mindanao.DATU PIANG Monday, October 19, 2009 (IRIN) - When Kamesa Usop fled her home in August 2008, little did she know she would still be displaced 14 months later. Today, the 50-year-old is one of 1,500 residents of the Notre Dame Dulawan evacuation centre in Datu Piang, in conflict-affected Mindanao.

There are more than 250,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the island due to fighting between government forces and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who have been fighting for an ancestral homeland for decades.

"It's been over a year and still we are here. In the past, we have been forced from our homes, but this time is different. When the fighting stopped before we would return, but not now.

"My home in Nimao [district] is only 6km from here but we can't go back. It's simply not safe.

"On top of that we have nothing to return to. We lost everything.

"Government troops burned our homes. They said MILF fighters were using our homes as shelters, but this wasn't true. We are simple people and didn't do anything wrong. We just got caught in the middle.

"Of course, I am angry, but I am powerless to do anything. Instead, I have no choice but to live here.

"Lately, there has been talk about peace negotiations, but at this point it's just talk. Things may be quieter now, but there is no real peace. That's why I have no desire to go back at this point.

"Conditions in the camp are tough. There are not enough toilets, the water is dirty and many people - including myself - routinely come down with diarrhoea.

"Everyone in the camp is dependent on outside assistance. But whatever we receive, particularly food, is simply not enough.

"In many ways, I'm luckier than most. My husband is a fisherman and earns another 1,000 pesos [US$21] a month to help out. Others are less fortunate. Most men in the camp don't work and there is no source of work. As a result, thing are getting worse for them. Many wonder if they return how they will rebuild, much less get by.

"Now I need help and they [the government] should help me. They should help all of us who have been displaced.

"I want to return to my home. But I'm going to need help. And I'm going to need help for a while."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86631MANILA Monday, October 19, 2009 (IRIN) - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) says it is working with the government to establish a mechanism to protect civilians in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Mindanao from crossfire or clashes before formal peace talks resume.MANILA Monday, October 19, 2009 (IRIN) - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) says it is working with the government to establish a mechanism to protect civilians in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Mindanao from crossfire or clashes before formal peace talks resume.
 
The move comes more than a year after large-scale attacks caused massive death and destruction on the southern Philippine island.
 
Murad Ebrahim, head of the 12,000-strong MILF, says he has ordered his commanders to refrain from attacking military positions that could put the lives of tens of thousands of IDPs in danger.
 
And with the year-long fighting exacting a heavy toll on both government and rebel ranks, Murad says he now wants to end the cycle of violence before it affects the younger generation of Muslims.
 
"We have manifested very clearly that the MILF leadership is very sincere and very determined to push ahead with the peace process," Murad told journalists at his base in Sultan Kudarat Province.
 
"We are not building our military strength now, because we believe the problem cannot be solved by military means - it will always boil down to peaceful solutions."
 
While rebels are in a defensive position, "we are trying to mobilize support as much as possible to the peace process" to involve communities on the ground and the international community, Murad said.
 
"We really sympathize with the civilians. We have very strong orders for our freedom fighters that are very specific to the protection of civilians," Murad said.
 
"We have ordered our people, our fighters not to harm civilians. The problem is many of these civilians have refused to return to their places of origin because military forces have occupied their communities."

Protection mission
 
He said both sides had agreed to the creation of a "civilian protection mission" to assure civilians they would not be harmed while returning to rebuild their destroyed homes.
 
He said the mechanism remains at the planning stage, but would most likely involve international groups, including rights monitors, to hold both sides accountable for renewed violence.
 
"We are manifesting our sincerity. We will struggle to find every means in order that the peace process will proceed. We are looking to the Philippine government to reciprocate and have the political will to solve this problem," Murad said.
 
The civilian protection mechanism followed soon after both sides agreed to create an “international contact group” comprising representatives of the Organization of Islamic Conference and the European Union, who will facilitate the resumption of formal peace negotiations on the ground.
 
The creation of the group was a major breakthrough by negotiators trying to restart talks stalled since August 2008, when two MILF commanders broke a five-year ceasefire and attacked mostly Christian areas in Mindanao after a court stopped a proposed deal that would have given the rebel group control over large swathes of land they claim as their ancestral domain.
 
Since then, 380 people have died, entire farming communities have been destroyed and more than 750,000 people affected, in a humanitarian crisis that has also strained government's budget.
 
Of the total affected, 250,000 people remain in 500 evacuation camps where water, sanitation and access to basic health services remain a major challenge.
 
Nabil Tan, the government's chief peace adviser, who assumed office in early October, replacing Avelino Razon, meanwhile vowed to "double the government's peace confidence-building efforts" in the next few months to get the talks started.
 
"Back channelling talks are continuing. If we can put a closure to it before the next administration commences, so much the better," Tan told IRIN.
 
"Enough is enough of this bloody warfare. Now is the time to end the fighting and have a lasting peace in the country," he said.
 
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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86638DAKAR Wednesday, October 14, 2009 (IRIN) - Designed to be safe havens in times of disaster, health facilities are vulnerable to upheaval when catastrophe strikes, according to the UN, which is focusing on hospital safety for International Day for Disaster Reduction.DAKAR Wednesday, October 14, 2009 (IRIN) - Designed to be safe havens in times of disaster, health facilities are vulnerable to upheaval when catastrophe strikes, according to the UN, which is focusing on hospital safety for International Day for Disaster Reduction.

Only half of UN member countries have set aside money for health facility emergency preparedness, according to World Health Organization (WHO).

The world’s 49 least-developed countries house at least 90,000 health facilities, most of which have not been evaluated for disaster preparedness. Latin American and Caribbean countries have created a Hospital Safety Index that has been used in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Oman, Sudan and Tajikistan.

In Burkina Faso September 2009 flooding forced the largest hospital to shut down. The facility is barely functioning six weeks later.  Health Minister Seydou Bouda told IRIN he believes disaster can effect change. “In Burkina Faso nothing will be like it was before. Each [health] sector activity should integrate crisis management into its operations because catastrophe can arrive at any moment.”

UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Margaret Wahlström said much has been done to boost hospital safety worldwide, but more investment is needed to brace hospitals for potential disasters.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86581MANILA Tuesday, October 13, 2009 (IRIN) - The UN is to revise its flash appeal made on 7 October for the Philippines, which faces massive reconstruction and rehabilitation challenges after cyclones devastated many areas and killed at least 684 people, the body's humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said on 13 October.MANILA Tuesday, October 13, 2009 (IRIN) - The UN is to revise its flash appeal made on 7 October [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86477] for the Philippines, which faces massive reconstruction and rehabilitation challenges after cyclones devastated many areas and killed at least 684 people, the body's humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said on 13 October.
 
Holmes, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said US$74 million was clearly not enough, and stressed that it would be revised when a more complete assessment came in from the field.
 
"We will revise it. We may need to increase it," Holmes told reporters during a two-day visit to review relief operations in the Philippines.
 
The "crisis is by no means over. Indeed, the hard work is just starting,” he said. "This is a major crisis and a major tragedy for so many people.”
 
The appeal covers priority projects for food, drinking water, sanitation, shelter and household items, and will be revised after a month. It will last for six months until March 2010, and is intended to address the immediate needs of a million people affected by the cyclones and flooding.
 
Holmes said he was optimistic the international donor community would respond positively to a revised appeal, even as he conceded that the global financial crisis and disasters in other parts of Southeast Asia in the past two weeks could limit donations.
 
"Climate change is already causing more intense disasters," Holmes said, citing recent storms here and in other countries. He said only $19 million had been pledged so far for the flash appeal.
 
Cyclone commission

Meanwhile, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has issued an executive order creating a "special, national public-private sector reconstruction commission" that will undertake a study of the causes, costs and actions to be taken after cyclones Parma and Ketsana caused widespread destruction.
 
"The key task of the commission is to study the causes, costs and actions to be taken and undertake a rehabilitation plan for infrastructure and other priorities," Arroyo said shortly after presiding over an emergency meeting.
 
She said it would also serve as the "clearing house" for international assistance pledged through the UN.
 
Ketsana dumped record rainfall on Manila and surrounding areas on 26 September, causing unprecedented flooding. It destroyed hospitals and homes, and washed away entire communities along river banks.
 
A week later on 3 October, super-typhoon Parma hit the northern Philippines and Luzon island's western coast, drowning large tracts of farm land and causing landslides that destroyed bridges and motorways.
 
Authorities were also forced to release water from two near-bursting dams, adding to the flooding that at one point covered an entire province.
 
Together, the cyclones left 648 dead, with many still missing, and affected more than six million people, some 300,000 of whom are still housed in makeshift evacuation centres, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said.
 
Damage to infrastructure and agriculture, which contributes significantly to the economy, is initially placed at 17.6 billion pesos ($382.60 million), a figure that is likely to rise once a final assessment is made, officials said.
 
With dykes, bridges, roads and entire communities needing to be rehabilitated, Arroyo said the help of the private sector was needed, while the government may also ask for grants or concessional loans from lending institutions.
 
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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86559MANILA Monday, October 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Nine months pregnant with her first child, Chona de la Cruz, 30, waded through murky flood waters amid heavy rain to reach a government hospital in Manila's suburban Cainta district.MANILA Monday, October 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Nine months pregnant with her first child, Chona de la Cruz, 30, waded through murky flood waters amid heavy rain to reach a government hospital in Manila's suburban Cainta district.
 
But the hospital, which was partly submerged by floods brought by tropical storm Ketsana on 26 September, was overwhelmed and almost turned her away.
 
"I don't want to deliver my baby in an evacuation camp," De la Cruz sobbed, as more than 500 other pregnant women crowded the Bagong Cainta Municipal Hospital seeking medical and hygiene kits. "This is my first time to be a mother and I don't know what to do."
 
De la Cruz and her husband, a construction worker, had been crammed into an evacuation camp with more than 800 people in a covered basketball court at Lakas-Tao, a Cainta slum. Some areas were still submerged in sludgy water more than two weeks after Ketsana hit.
 
When the flood waters first rose, her husband found a tyre tube, which they used to float through neck-deep waters to safety. "But it was too cold and I spent many hours in the water. I am afraid I may have caught diseases," she said.
 
Nearby, Racquel Pascual, 21, eight months pregnant with her fifth child, and all her belongings washed away - including the money she had saved for the birth – said she too had nowhere to go.
 
"I am resigned to the fact that I may give birth in an evacuation centre, and my poor baby may get infections there," she said.
 
Neglected
 
The women are only two of the estimated 14,000 pregnant women exposed to septic surroundings at evacuation camps. Their plight has been neglected as an overwhelmed government struggles to come to terms with the magnitude of the flooding.
 
After Ketsana, super-typhoon Parma slammed into northern Luzon island on 3 October, bringing week-long rains that triggered heavy landslides and flooding, further deepening the crisis. The death toll from Parma has reached almost 300, while the toll from Ketsana is 337, the government said.
 
More than 6.3 million people have been affected by the killer storms, over 400,000 of whom are in evacuation centres. Many areas were still isolated by landslides as of 12 October, and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the US military have scheduled airlifting tonnes of food to the devastated areas.
 
When Ketsana hit, the priority was to save those trapped by the floods, then find evacuation sites for the hundreds of thousands who lost their homes. And with much of the health infrastructure destroyed in Manila's eastern suburbs, these pregnant women have been largely neglected, the UN Population Fund's (UNFPA) Philippines country director, Suneeta Mukherjee, told IRIN.
 
"They are very vulnerable because they can't stop from delivering when their time comes," Mukherjee said. "The number one problem is that the whole thing could be septic, the mother and the baby could get infected and die."
 
Appeal for help
 
Mukherjee said UNFPA had done rapid assessments of various evacuation camps, and linked up with volunteer organizations, including enlisting the help of an association of midwives, who have been dispatched to selected areas.
 
"There are a lot of pregnant and post-partum women in the evacuation centres who do not have access to prenatal, natal and post-natal care. We cannot allow this situation to continue," Mukherjee said.
 
Cainta's municipal health chief, Glenda Abellanosa, said that only three of the area's 27 free health centres were still standing. With medical workers themselves left homeless, she said all international help was welcome.
 
"Many of these pregnant women may return to their homes, and we will not be able to monitor them," she told IRIN. "We want to help everyone, but we simply can't, because we have gone beyond our capacity."
 
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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86545MANILA Friday, October 09, 2009 (IRIN) - The Philippines was plunged deeper into crisis on 9 October after heavy rain brought on by tropical storm Parma resulted in widespread flooding in the northern provinces and forced authorities to release water from near-bursting dams.MANILA Friday, October 09, 2009 (IRIN) - The Philippines was plunged deeper into crisis on 9 October after heavy rain brought on by tropical storm Parma resulted in widespread flooding in the northern provinces and forced authorities to release water from near-bursting dams.
 
Up to 30,000 people have so far been evacuated in northern Pangasinan province - which is nearly all flooded - but many more remained on rooftops, after continued rains added to the water released from the dams transformed the main highways into virtual rapids, said the provincial spokesman, Butch Velasco.
 
"Out of the 43 towns here, 30 are already under water. Waters are [higher than] people; we are also receiving text messages that people are on rooftops and awaiting our rescue," Velasco said, adding that rescuers fanned out at dawn to reach the heavily affected areas, but were hampered by continuing rain.
 
"We have already asked for help from other agencies, the Red Cross, the military and navy rescuers,” he said.
 
Chief Superintendent Ramon Gatan, the regional police chief for the north, said Pangasinan had been isolated, with the highways heavily flooded and impassable, even to big vehicles.
 
Police said the number of casualties in the mountainous province of Benguet alone had risen to 95, but the toll was expected to rise as the crisis deepened.
 
Stranded
 
The government was forced to release water from at least two major dams in the towns of San Roque in Pangasinan, and Pantabangan in northern Nueva Ecija Province because they were in danger of spilling over, or from being destroyed due to water pressure.  
 
The water released, however, prompted river systems that go all the way to Pangasinan and surrounding provinces to overflow their banks, triggering the flooding.
 
"The situation is very bad. Rain and water overflow from the dams combined and there are a lot of areas now under water," Philippine National Red Cross secretary-general, Gwendolyn Pang, told IRIN.
 
"People are on top of roofs, and one bridge connecting Pangasinan to [the province of La Union] collapsed. We still can't say how many have been displaced as the water level varies from place to place."
 
In a town in Pangasinan, a man who identified himself only as Ronnie said he and 50 others were stranded on the roof of their two-storey home.
 
"We need water, food. Please ask authorities to send helicopters to help us. We have children here," he told a local radio station by telephone before he was cut off.
 
Parma hits again
 
Parma made landfall on 3 October in Cagayan province on the island of Luzon as a super-typhoon with gale force winds equivalent to a category 4 hurricane, blowing away roofs and causing heavy flooding that damaged tracts of agricultural land.
 
It then weakened into a storm and remained nearly stationary over part of the island. Continued heavy rains have also caused deadly landslides that have cut off the popular mountain resort of Baguio city in northern Luzon.
 
The Philippines National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said Parma was some 60km north-northwest of Baguio as of early 9 October, but was still bringing heavy rain to several northern provinces.
 
It said the total death toll from Parma had reached 25, mostly due to landslides, while 39 people were still missing. It has also affected more than one million people in Luzon, of whom about 42,000 are still in evacuation centres.
 
Parma's fury exacerbated the effects of tropical storm Ketsana, which dumped a month's worth of rain on Manila and surrounding suburbs on 26 September, causing massive flooding and killing nearly 300 people and affecting nearly four million more.
 
The government has said it has been totally overwhelmed by the crises; the UN issued a flash appeal http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86477 on 7 October for US$74 million to help some one million people in dire need of immediate assistance amid the twin disasters.
 
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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86510NAIROBI Thursday, October 08, 2009 (IRIN) - When an earthquake strikes a town, or a building is levelled by an explosion, news footage invariably shows search and rescue teams trawling through the rubble looking for survivors. But what does it take to rescue people trapped under tons of concrete?NAIROBI Thursday, October 08, 2009 (IRIN) - When an earthquake strikes a town, or a building is levelled by an explosion, news footage invariably shows search and rescue teams trawling through the rubble looking for survivors. But what does it take to rescue people trapped under tons of concrete?

Step one - coordination

The first thing is to activate search and rescue teams, often highly trained volunteers.

"Most of our members are doctors, ambulance operators, engineers or fire fighters," said John Holland, operations director of Rapid UK [http://www.rapidsar.org.uk/], a charitable search and rescue group.

They go through a rigorous two-year training process before they are allowed to assist in disasters.

"We try to deploy within 24 hours because the earlier we are on the ground, the better the chances of rescuing survivors," Holland said. "During the Pakistan earthquake [in 2005], we were able to deploy in 21 hours."

The International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) [http://ochaonline.un.org/Coordination/FieldCoordinationSupportSection/INSARAG/tabid/1436/language/en-US/Default.aspx] - a global network of more than 80 countries and disaster response organizations under the UN umbrella - has standardized guidelines for rescue missions.

"Once a government has made that call for international assistance, we alert our members, who begin mobilizing to travel to the area," said INSARAG's Winston Chang, a Singapore Civil Defence Force veteran who coordinated the search and rescue efforts following the recent earthquake in Padang, Indonesia. "We run a portal where once a disaster occurs, we pool information and our various teams can input data on their movements - whether they are on standby, mobilizing or have reached the ground."

INSARAG will usually set up an “on site operations coordination centre” where all search and rescue teams get instructions - depending on their area of specialty - on where to go and how to operate; the desk holds regular meetings to update itself and the teams on the progress being made on the ground.

"These operations can be quite large; just now in Padang, there were a total of 21 teams with 668 personnel and 67 search dogs," Chang said. "They need bases of operation where they will fuel their heavy equipment, coordinate their internal logistics and sleep."

"We also ensure that they follow specific standards of operation and remain culturally sensitive, especially since the teams are from such diverse backgrounds," he added.

Step two - analysis

Once in the disaster area, the first step is to analyze the task at hand, said Julie Ryan, a volunteer with the British NGO, the International Rescue Corps. [http://www.intrescue.co.uk/news/index.php/about-us/home]

In a collapsed building, "you need to analyze the building, assess its history and try to establish where in the building people are most likely to be", she told IRIN. "You also need to determine how badly a building has been damaged and whether it is likely to collapse any further, causing damage to [survivors] and rescue teams."

The assessment also involves checking for hazards such as downed power lines, gas leaks, flooding and hazardous materials. Protective gear includes special suits, gloves, masks, and oxygen and carbon monitoring systems for air quality.

Step three - search mode

At its most basic, this involves trying to spot limbs in the rubble, and calling out to survivors to identify their locations.

Rescuers look for "voids", or pockets where people may be trapped when walls collapse or where survivors may have hidden, such as under desks, in bath tubs or stairwells.

"We feed a camera on the end of a flexible pole into the collapsed building - this shows where people are and how much of the building's structure is left," Ryan said.

"Rescuers also use sound location devices connected to a microphone system; the device bangs on the rubble three times and if people tap back or call out for help, they can be tracked and assisted," she added.

Listening is a crucial part of the operation, and search teams will often stop for several minutes to try to hear any calls, scratches or taps.

Other search tools include a thermal image camera system, which shows areas of body heat, and trained sniffer dogs. "We also use a carbon dioxide analyzer, which helps us detect people who might be unconscious but still breathing," Ryan said.

Buildings that have been searched are marked with INSARAG-recognized signs to avoid duplication of searches.

As survivors are found, rescuers try to get them to keep talking to determine their exact location, and dig towards them - the least dangerous way to do this is by hand.

Step four - the rescue operation

If survivors are trapped under rubble, it may need to be stabilized first; a process called cribbing - the construction of a rectangular wooden framework, a box crib, underneath the debris - may be used.

Survivors who are not able to move usually need to be lifted, dragged or carried out of the rubble using special equipment.

"If people cannot be manually dug out, then we can cut them out - there are specialized tools that can cut through concrete, metal and wood to reach survivors," Ryan said. "There is also a process known as `slabbing’, where heavy slabs of concrete are removed in order to free survivors - this is always a very difficult judgment call, because it risks further collapse, which could injure or kill more people."

Concrete saws, jackhammers, chainsaws, bolt cutters, cranes and bulldozers are all part of the tool kit; chains, cables, anchors and rope-hauling systems are used to remove large pieces of masonry. Other equipment may include flat bags that are inserted under heavy objects and inflated with an air pump, and “shoring” equipment, which ensures passageways are stable and safe.

As survivors are removed, their medical condition is determined; patients are prioritized according to triage - based on the severity of their condition.

Search and rescue teams usually start the most urgent medical procedures on site; the most experienced teams may have defibrillators and endo-tracheal equipment to shock people back to life or perform emergency tracheotomies.

Step five - closure

Deciding when to end a rescue operation is always difficult.

"Obviously, the more time passes the less likely you are to find people alive," said Ryan. "But sometimes - especially if they have water available - people can remain alive for many days. In Pakistan, our team rescued two boys five days after the earthquake; they had survived on trickles of rainwater through the rubble."

According to Ryan, finding bodies - cadaver rescue - after the search for survivors is over is a very important part of any operation.

"Even when people haven't survived the collapse of a building, families find that having a body to bury is an important part of getting closure," she said.

According to INSARAG's Chang, the high octane operations can take their toll on rescuers, especially when they have to pull hundreds of dead people out of buildings.

"Most of them are used to dealing with blood and death in their daily professions, but from time to time it can become very difficult," he said. "Many teams are equipped to deal with trauma - the Swiss government's team, for instance, has a psychologist on hand, while doctors in the Singapore team have been trained to search for signs of trauma in team members."

Once the host government officially calls off the search, INSARAG starts the process of withdrawing the teams. A few remain and become part of the humanitarian relief effort, rebuilding hospitals and schools or shelter for families, but most will head back to their day jobs and await the next call to action

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86493DAKAR Thursday, October 08, 2009 (IRIN) - A landmine survivor in Senegal’s Casamance region on 6 October used the recent report, ‘Voices from the Ground’, based on a survey of mine victims worldwide, to remind aid agencies, Senegal’s anti-mine agency and the media of victims’ needs and governments’ responsibilities. DAKAR Thursday, October 08, 2009 (IRIN) - A landmine survivor in Senegal’s Casamance region on 6 October used the recent report, ‘Voices from the Ground’, based on a survey of mine victims worldwide, to remind aid agencies, Senegal’s anti-mine agency and the media of victims’ needs and governments’ responsibilities.

The Handicap International report, which authors say is the first such compilation of mine victims’ views on assistance, says: “[Landmine] survivors are still too often left to do just that – survive – on the margins of society, when they should be helped to rebuild their lives and thrive in the heart of their communities.”

The report includes input from 1,645 mine survivors in 25 affected countries.

Mamady Gassama of the Senegalese Mine Victims Association highlighted the Senegal portion of the report, which says the government needs to boost national funding for victim assistance rather than depend on donors.

“The government must not leave victims’ needs to – often uncertain – external aid,” said Gassama. Senegal is a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty, which calls on the international community, and individual governments “in a position” to do so, to assist victims.

Mine survivors surveyed said among their greatest needs is assistance in skills training and employment.

np/mad/pthttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86506BANGKOK Wednesday, October 07, 2009 (IRIN) - The UN launched a flash appeal on 7 October for over US$74 million for the Philippines after deadly storms brought extensive flooding and dealt a blow to the country's agricultural sector.BANGKOK Wednesday, October 07, 2009 (IRIN) - The UN launched a flash appeal on 7 October for over US$74 million for the Philippines after deadly storms brought extensive flooding and dealt a blow to the country's agricultural sector.

"Clearly the damage is serious, and we feel the humanitarian needs are great and will be for the next few months," Jacqueline Badcock, the UN Resident Coordinator for the Philippines told IRIN from Manila, where the appeal (see: http://ochaonline.un.org/humanitarianappeal/webpage.asp?Page=1811) was launched.

The Philippine government has estimated the cost of the damages wrought by the storms as 9.77 billion pesos ($209.4 million).

Tropical storm Ketsana hit Manila and central Luzon on 26 September, inundating about 80 percent of the capital and killing at least 295 people. Over four million people were affected, including 340,000 displaced, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) in its 6 October report.

A week later, typhoon Parma hit the country's north, killing at least 16 people and displacing over 85,800. It also devastated the agriculture sector in northern Isabela Province, raising food security concerns, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Badcock said between 25 and 33 percent of the $74,021,809 asked for had been pledged. Donors include Canada, Australia, the US, China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Spain, the European Union and others.

The appeal will cover priority projects for food, drinking water, sanitation, shelter and household items, and will be revised after a month, when more detailed assessments give a clearer picture of humanitarian needs.

"There are still many communities that are unreachable and we can only guesstimate" at the damage, said Badcock. "Some of the longer-term needs have only become apparent as the flood waters have gone down," she said, citing damage to schools and hospitals.

The appeal was developed with the NDCC and includes UN agencies, NGOs, the Philippines National Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

It will last for six months until March 2010 and is intended to address the immediate needs of a million people affected by the storms and flooding.

Badcock said the most urgent needs were clean water and sanitation, a pressing issue in evacuation centres, as well as the supply of food and non-food items.

"Thousands of people have lost everything. They may still have a roof over their heads, but the water ruined all their furniture, clothes, food and items for their kids," she said, highlighting the needs of children.

The appeal also aims to restore schools that are being used as evacuation centres, and to provide education and protection for displaced and affected children.

Before the launch, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, announced that $7 million would be allocated from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for immediate live-saving assistance.

"Flood-related disasters can lead to even worse humanitarian consequences, not least the risk of outbreaks of waterborne diseases, if the response is delayed," he said, urging donors to be generous for the flash appeal.

The $7 million allocation will fund initial relief efforts by the World Food Programme, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization and the IOM.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86477COTABATO Tuesday, October 06, 2009 (IRIN) - The large number of people still displaced in Mindanao is pushing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions to the brink, health experts warn.COTABATO Tuesday, October 06, 2009 (IRIN) - The large number of people still displaced in Mindanao is pushing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions to the brink, health experts warn.

More than 250,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have yet to return home after prolonged fighting between government forces and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), who have been battling for an ancestral homeland for decades.

Most of the IDPs are in one of more than 150 evacuation centres, with the rest staying with family or friends, the Department of Social Welfare and Development [http://www.dswd.gov.ph/] reports - the vast majority in central Maguindanao Province.

"The situation is critical," Rose Ebus, executive director of Mindanao Tulong Bakwet [http://mindanaotulongbakwet.blogspot.com/], a local NGO, working closely with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told IRIN in Cotabato, emphasising the need to scale up facilities.

"Sphere [http://www.sphereproject.org/] standards are not possible here, not just because of physical constraints and resources, but also an acute lack of awareness among the IDPs themselves," Ebus said.

According to Paul Rosario, programme manager for emergency preparedness and response at Oxfam UK [http://www.oxfam.org.uk/], newly formed and informal/makeshift evacuation sites still do not have sufficient water and sanitation facilities, while proper maintenance of existing facilities has deteriorated.

"There is a growing indication that the WASH situation in conflict-affected communities in Central Mindanao is once again heading for deterioration," Rosario said. "Hygiene promotion activities are already on a decline. Seemingly it is only a matter of time before IDPs are again exposed to great public health risks."

Health risks

But in many instances, those risks are already present. Common health complaints include diarrhoea, parasitism, acute respiratory infections and malnutrition. At least two children have died of acute watery diarrhoea at the Lumpong IDP evacuation centre in Datu Odin Sinsuat - underscoring the need for immediate action.

Access to potable water in most of the camps remains problematic, and many camps suffer from an acute shortage of latrines and water points, as well as sanitation.

According to a WASH assessment of both old and new evacuation centres, relocation sites and home-based settings in Maguindanao and North Cotabato in July, almost 42,000 people had to share 61 water points and 165 latrines - one water point for 680 people and one latrine for 252.

Of existing latrines, one out of four were out of use, resulting in IDPs being forced to defecate in the open, the assessment said, while most of the hygiene promotion activities begun earlier had been discontinued.

At the Notre Dame Dulawan evacuation centre in Data Piang, some 300 families or 1,500 people share just two latrines and a handful of water points for water and bathing.

"The warning signs are there," Betrand Rossier, head of mission for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said.

Urgent planning needs

Leslie Morris-Iveson, a Cotabato-based WASH specialist for UNICEF, said population movements from different settings and IDP locations, as well as the issue of resettlement, were also now coming into play.

"At this point, we are trying to maintain a basic minimum in as many places as possible," she said, describing the situation as "fluid".

"The planning itself is challenged," she said. "We don't know where people are going to be. It's not like in a natural disaster where people in a defined location have to leave and it's a very straightforward planning process."

Added to that are the geographical and environmental constraints of the IDP sites themselves.

While higher elevated locations had very low ground-water tables, requiring drilling up to 30m to reach the aquifer, others were continually marshy or flooded.

"We're not dealing with similar conditions in all the places, requiring us to use a host of technical solutions," she said.

According to Oxfam, improving the situation will require a more holistic and long-term approach in providing humanitarian assistance, such that interventions will be sustained by local authorities even without the support of humanitarian actors.

Aid agencies also need to carefully fine-tune the assistance so as not to create a culture of dependence and pull the IDPs away from their places of origin, Rosario said.

"Any further WASH response at this point must continue to follow earlier designed interventions that are in line with the humanitarian protection framework and link with other critical interventions, such as livelihoods," he added.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86451BANGKOK Monday, October 05, 2009 (IRIN) - Most migrants do not move from developing to developed countries, and when they do, rather than hurting host economies, they benefit them, according to a new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).BANGKOK Monday, October 05, 2009 (IRIN) - Most migrants do not move from developing to developed countries, and when they do, rather than hurting host economies, they benefit them, according to a new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The UNDP's Human Development Report 2009, launched globally on 5 October in Bangkok, dispels several myths about migration, instead underlining the economic and social benefits for countries.

"Mobility can bring large gains in development," Jeni Klugman, director of the report, told IRIN. "It's presently very much constrained by a whole range of barriers, and reform [of] these barriers could allow much greater potential to be released."

The annual report calls for several migration reforms, including for states to ensure basic rights for migrants, and the mainstreaming of migration into national development plans.

ey/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86431MANILA Monday, October 05, 2009 (IRIN) - Seen from above, vast swathes of farms in the central Philippines have turned into large pools of stagnant brown water, and officials say the flooding is slowly killing rice harvests and placing the country at risk of a rice shortage.MANILA Monday, October 05, 2009 (IRIN) - Seen from above, vast swathes of farms in the central Philippines have turned into large pools of stagnant brown water, and officials say the flooding is slowly killing rice harvests and placing the country at risk of a rice shortage.

Severe flooding caused by tropical storm Ketsana on 26 September not only killed nearly 300 people and affected more than three million more, it also caused considerable damage to the farming sector, says the government. Agriculture accounts for a major part of the Philippine economy.

Dealing a second blow to the sector, super typhoon Parma slammed into northern Luzon island on 3 October, killing at least 15 people and inundating the country's traditional rice bowl with flood water, drowning crops that were to have been ready for harvesting.

Large parts of Cagayan province, where Parma made landfall, remain without electricity and telecommunication facilities. Roads have also been rendered impassable due to landslides and flooding after rivers overflowed.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council has initially estimated the damage to agriculture at 5.5 billion pesos (US$117 million), with the figure projected to rise once the government completes a final assessment.

"Large rice fields have been damaged," said Bellaflor Angara, the governor of Aurora province in central Luzon. "We are trying to get everything back to normal, but we expect this to take some time."

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the damage to agriculture could affect the country's rice supply by next year, forcing President Gloria Arroyo to order immediate imports to stave off a supply crunch that could exacerbate the crisis.

"Many irrigation facilities have [been destroyed] and urgently need repair," Yap told a cabinet meeting, according to an IRIN source. Yap also recommended the mass distribution of high-quality seeds to replace crops destroyed, even as he acknowledged that inundated rice fields would take time to recover, said the source.

"We need to help our farmers. The president has in fact ordered that our farmers be given free rice seedlings,” presidential spokesman Cerge Remonde told reporters.

Yap, for his part, has said the country of 92 million is assured of enough rice stocks until December, although there could be a shortage by the first half of the 2010.

Overwhelmed

The successive typhoons have overwhelmed the government's disaster response mechanism, forcing Arroyo to place the entire country under a "state of calamity", allowing local governments to quickly release contingency funding for rebuilding.

The UN also issued a flash appeal on 3 October [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VDUX-7WGKYE?OpenDocument] for $74 million; more than 400,000 people are still in makeshift evacuation camps, while large suburban areas remain under water.

And while international aid has been trickling in, areas that have remained logistically difficult to reach have seen people fighting over aid.

Much of Manila's eastern section remains chaotic.

Mountains of rubbish lie rotting by roadsides, while hundreds of thousands are camping out in public schools. Efforts to resume classes and bring back normal school schedules have largely failed as many survivors are using the buildings for shelter, where they have access to water and toilets.

"IOM has made it a target in all donor appeals for camp management primarily to directly assist the Department of Social Welfare in camps and in return communities," said Ida Mae Fernandez, regional programme officer for the International Organization of Migration.

State weather forecasters say Parma is nearly stationary west of Luzon now, and could potentially make a U-turn as another typhoon - Melor - was pulling it back to Philippine territory.

Melor is expected to enter Philippine maritime territory late on 5 October, bringing more rains and misery to the battered country before heading north to Japan.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86441MANILA Friday, October 02, 2009 (IRIN) - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo on 2 October ordered the police and military to forcibly evacuate residents on Luzon Island in the direct path of "super-typhoon" Parma.MANILA Friday, October 02, 2009 (IRIN) - Philippine President Gloria Arroyo on 2 October ordered the police and military to forcibly evacuate residents on Luzon Island in the direct path of “super-typhoon” Parma.

Thousands of residents are expected to leave in the coming hours.

The announcement comes almost a week after tropical storm Ketsana unleashed severe flooding in Manila and surrounding areas, leaving nearly 300 dead and affecting more than three million people.

As the Philippines rolled out massive relief operations to distribute aid to nearly half a million people crammed in gymnasiums, basketball courts, schools and other makeshift shelters, state weather authorities have now issued an alert for Parma.

The storm has gathered strength and is approaching the Philippines from the east, packing maximum sustained winds of about 195km an hour near the centre and gusts of up to 230km - equivalent to a category-four hurricane, which could cause widespread damage and death.

Parma is forecast to slam into the northern province of Aurora on 3 October.

While it will not bring as much rain as Ketsana, its winds will be destructive and could potentially blow away houses, uproot trees and cause storm surges on the jagged and densely populated eastern coast, the state weather bureau said.

The agricultural province is divided into eight townships with a total population of about 160,000.

Parma’s arrival will likely compound the humanitarian situation in Manila and suburban areas to the east, some of which remain submerged in brown, fetid water days after Ketsana.

According to the country’s National Disaster Response Committee, more than 10,000 homes were damaged by the storm, of which 4,270 were completely destroyed.

Parma has already caused heavy rains in the east of the country, particularly in the island province of Catanduanes, where small boats have already been ordered grounded.

Storm warning

"While this may not have as much rain as Ketsana, the public should be warned that this is a very, very severe typhoon," state weather bureau spokesman Nathaniel Cruz told IRIN.

"These gusts are strong enough to destroy houses, to rip the roofs off houses," he said. "The best thing we can do for the lives of our countrymen is to look for the strongest building where [they] can take refuge while the storm is passing. They should stick to their radios and television sets for continuous updates."

Arroyo meanwhile ordered the police and the military to carry out "pre-emptive evacuations" in a bid to limit casualties.

She also imposed price controls on construction materials, the mass distribution of drinking water, the release of over one million packets of instant noodles and for the state weather bureau to periodically report any sudden rise in water levels in dams and reservoirs near Manila.

"Six days after Ketsana whipped the country, we are continuing to rush widespread distribution of aid to those still in need," she said, and warned that traders taking advantage of the crisis to hike prices of basic commodities would be jailed.

Relief operations

Piles of rotting rubbish and debris - including animal carcasses - have remained uncollected, potentially causing disease outbreaks. Human remains are also still being fished out of tributaries, raising the possibility of a higher toll.

"We are supporting the Philippines Government relief response to ensure that food and other vital supplies reach the growing numbers of people, many of whom have lost almost everything in this disaster," said Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

She said the agency was "rapidly expanding" its relief operations in the country with the aim of providing food to one million people this month, "which is expected to be the peak period" for its emergency response.

As part of the preparations, the Philippine Navy reports that disaster relief response teams, equipped with rubber boats, portable generators, M35 trucks and life-saving kits, have been sent to the provinces of Cagayan, La Union, Pangasinan and Zambales in northern Luzon.

Each team comprises 15 enlisted personnel, while naval reservists in Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija have been placed on full alert, it said.

“This is a full-force typhoon which could reach category five level,” Angela Travis, a spokeswoman for the UN in Manila, told IRIN. “They [the Philippines] are hit by 20-plus typhoons a year and they are gearing up,” she said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86401BANGKOK Friday, October 02, 2009 (IRIN) - This week’s disasters in Asia underscore the need for greater disaster preparedness, experts say; while countries are making progress, there are still gaps to be filled.BANGKOK Friday, October 02, 2009 (IRIN) - This week’s disasters in Asia underscore the need for greater disaster preparedness, experts say; while countries are making progress, there are still gaps to be filled.

At least 1,100 people have been killed, with thousands more feared dead, in Indonesia after earthquakes struck off Western Sumatra and the city of Padang on 30 September.

On 29 September, the Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga were battered by a tsunami after an earthquake struck, leaving at least 136 dead.

And just days before, tropical storm Ketsana tore through the Philippines, killing at least 292 people and affecting another three million [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86331].

The Philippines is now bracing for Typhoon Parma. [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=86401]

Terje Skavdal, head of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Bangkok, said there was growing recognition that disaster preparedness is key.

“Thirty years ago, almost none of the Asian countries had a clear, defined disaster management authority in place. Today, nearly all countries in Asia have that. We do see that a number of nations have made a lot of investment in improving their preparedness,” Skavdal told IRIN.

“A lot of these countries now have more and more experience in also taking early action to mitigate some of the possible impacts of disasters,” he added.

Tsunami lessons

Bhichit Rattakul, executive director of the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) [http://www.adpc.net], said the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 220,000 in Asia and Africa, was an important milestone in jogging regional governments into action.

“It’s very much different from what happened before 2004, in terms of budgets, human resources, capacity-building and national and local community participation,” Bhichit told IRIN.
However, Skavdal and other experts noted that there were still gaps in disaster preparedness.

“There are a lot of gaps. There are gaps related to early warnings - that early warnings are, for example, translated into a language people understand, and reach out to each and every creek and corner,” he said.

“Early warnings also need somehow to be balanced with resources for people to evacuate, for example, and in some places we see there are little resources for that,” he said.

Coordination gaps

Other gaps include weakness in coordination and communication systems between national and provincial levels in countries in times of disaster, and a need to “think more out of the box” as disasters become more unpredictable, he said.

“We need to maybe have a more multi-hazard approach to look closer into new and unexpected events, especially now with climate change, where we do see more frequent, more severe, but also more unprecedented disasters,” he said.

The ADPC works with governments in the region on a number of disaster preparedness and mitigation projects, and Bhitchit underlined the importance of educating local communities and raising their awareness to prepare for and respond to disasters.

“There is a need to mainstream disaster risk reduction into all components of development projects in each country,” said Bhichit.

“It’s not only education in schools … but also other sectors like road construction and agriculture, because this is related to food production and security,” he said.

A disaster hotspot

Officials say Asia Pacific is the world’s disaster hotspot - a person living in this region is four times more likely to be affected by natural disasters than someone in Africa, and 25 times more likely than someone in Europe or North America, according to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

“Our region experienced 42 percent of the world’s natural disasters between 1999 and 2008,” said Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary General and ESCAP Executive Secretary.

“Studies have shown that for every dollar invested in risks associated with disaster, $4-$7 can be saved. Investing in disaster risk reduction and prevention measures is not only a moral imperative, it is financially smart,” she said in a statement on 1 October.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", the edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval, while the Philippines is particularly typhoon-prone.

West Sumatra, especially the city of Padang, has been recognized as being on the frontline in terms of disasters, and has invested substantially in disaster preparedness [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=76049].

“Basically, all the natural disasters you can think of can be found in these countries,” said Skavdal.

Key pact

Spurred on by the 2004 tsunami, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have ratified a regional, legally binding disaster pact, which will come into force by December.

The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) promotes regional collaboration and cooperation in reducing disaster losses and strengthening joint emergency responses.

The agreements allows for disaster risk identification, monitoring and early warning, prevention and mitigation, preparedness and response, and technical cooperation and research.

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