This revised emergency appeal adjusts the appeal budget from CHF 4,114,366 to CHF 2,941,756 with operational changes based on detailed situation analysis. The operation’s timeframe is extended until 30 November 2012. A final report will be made available by 28 February 2013, three months after completion of the operation.
With contributions received to date, the appeal is 74 per cent covered in cash and kind. Under the revised plan, apart from the support that had been delivered to some 25,000 families during the emergency phase, the Philippine Red Cross will continue to provide shelter assistance to some 300 families and livelihoods assistance to some 3,000 families to help with their recovery. The capacity building component of the appeal with regard to national society disaster response preparedness, is on-going.
Appeal history:
A revised emergency appeal was launched on 10 November 2011, seeking CHF 4.1 million in cash, kind, or services to support Philippine Red Cross to assist 25,000 families (125,000 persons) until 30 September 2012.
An emergency appeal for CHF 3.5 million was launched on a preliminary basis on 4 October 2011 to assist 50,000 families (250,000 persons) for eight months.
Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF): CHF 280,000 was allocated to support initial response by the national society.
Summary: On 4 October 2011, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched a preliminary emergency appeal — on behalf of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) — to respond to the needs wrought by back-to-back typhoons, Nesat and Nalgae, which hit the central and northern parts of Luzon Island on 27 September and 1 October respectively. An emergency appeal was issued on 10 November 2011 following extensive assessment of needs on the ground. Activities under the appeal cover food and non-food relief, health and hygiene promotion, water and sanitation, shelter, livelihoods, and national society disaster preparedness and capacity building.
Revised emergency appeal Philippines: Typhoons In Ifugao province, this resident has successfully resumed her weaving livelihood after she received the cash grant from the Red Cross.
Photo: Afrhill Rances/IFRCIn the immediate aftermath of the typhoons, PRC deployed emergency response units, experienced staff and specialized volunteer teams to support its first response. The teams provided a range of services, including ferrying more than 2,500 people to evacuation shelters, and rescuing 2,600 trapped persons to safety. More than 2,300 volunteers and 200 staff were mobilized, and played an important role in emergency operations, including serving more than 21,000 evacuees with ready-to-eat meals and responding to immediate welfare, psychosocial, first aid and health-related needs.
The relief phase of this IFRC-supported operation was completed in March 2012. At that juncture, the objectives pertaining to relief distributions had been attained. Some 25,000 families had received emergency food packages; 15,000 received water storage containers and sleeping materials; and 18,000 received family hygiene kits, including 18,000 hygiene kits for children. As well as distributing 150,000 litres of water to families in need, PRC conducted disease prevention, and health and hygiene promotion sessions, reaching a total of 18,020 families.
Planning and preparations for early recovery assistance started alongside relief interventions. A PRC project team, supported by an IFRC delegate and a household economic security delegate seconded by British Red Cross undertook detailed assessments in affected communities to establish the nature and extent of early recovery needs. This process helped prioritize families that would receive early recovery assistance. Subsequently, delivery of livelihoods assistance – in the form of conditional cash grants – started in June 2012. As of 25 September, some 2,100 families in the provinces of Aurora, Ifugao and Quirino had received early recovery livelihoods grants ranging between PHP 4,000 and PHP 10,000, and had invested in livelihood projects.
Also relating to early recovery, the process of identifying and targeting vulnerable families who lacked the capacity to build back better was done alongside relief interventions. Up to this moment, 200 most vulnerable families (109 in Aurora, 63 in Ifugao and 28 in Quirino) out of the targeted 300 families were selected to receive shelter assistance. Delivery of shelter assistance in Ifugao started in July 2012. The process in Aurora started in September 2012, slightly later than Ifugao owing to challenges relating to obtaining suitable land to resettle the selected typhoon-displaced families that used to live in areas demarcated as ‗no-build zones‘. The time needed for legal processes in obtaining land required the operation to be extended until 30 November 2012..
Apart from providing direct assistance to families that were affected by the typhoons, this operation is supporting the improvement of PRC‘s disaster preparedness and response capacity. In this regards, the operation provided Aurora and Ifugao chapters with computers and other basic office equipment to maintain basic functions. The two chapters are also being supported to form and equip water search and rescue teams. While training of staff and volunteers has been completed, procurement of equipment for the teams is also close to completion.
Cash and in-kind contributions to this intervention have been received from American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross, Japanese Red Cross Society, Red Cross of Monaco, Netherlands Red Cross,
Norwegian Red Cross and Swedish Red Cross as well as the Directorate General of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO), Government of Canada, Government of Finland, Government of The Netherlands and the World Health Organization (WHO) staff Voluntary Emergency Relief Fund (VERF). On behalf of Philippine Red Cross, IFRC would like to thank all these partners for their generous response to this appeal.