In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan our partners are there, delivering vital relief to families who were caught in the path of the storm. 14 million people were affected by the typhoon, and more than 4 million have been left homeless.
Our local partners have been working tirelessly since Haiyan hit, reaching more than 150,000 people with items such as food, emergency shelter and other life–saving essentials.
The coming year will see a focus on the longer term challenges of rebuilding people’s lives and livelihoods.
Christian Aid are supporting the poor and marginalised who have seen their sources of income devastated – crops washed away, fishing boats wrecked, and the coconut trees they so greatly rely on destroyed.
Christian Aid partners including CODE, Coastal Core, PhilNet/RDI–Leyte and PRDCI have reached people in some of the worst affected and most isolated areas of the provinces of Iloilo, Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar and Palawan.
People affected have received vital emergency relief items such as food, water, sleeping mats, blankets and shelter kits.
Items distributed include:
- Water and food, including rice, cooking oil, tinned sardines, corned beef, biscuits
- Sleeping mats, blankets and soap and toothpaste
- Tarpaulin and ropes (shelter kits)
As the new year begins, our focus will soon turn towards to supporting communities to build back stronger. We will look at restoring shelter alongside livelihoods, particularly agriculture and fishing. In doing so, supporting some of the 5.9 million workers who’ve lost livelihoods or whose sources of income have been severely affected by the typhoon.
Lourdes Abude (57) and her family lost their fishing boats in the Typhoon.
“We’ve planted sweet potatoes and other root crops, which we aim to sell to make a living once they’ve grown. We grew them before, but they were washed away by the storm, but we’re replanting. Right now, our priority is our livelihood. We need to restart and earn an income.Growing root vegetables won’t make as much money as fishing, but it’s our only option right now. We’re relying on relief for food now, and last week received a food distribution from Christian Aid, which included items including rice, sugar, cooking oil and canned goods. It really helped us. I’m very thankful to God, because we were saved. I felt we were being watched over, because our house wasn’t totally destroyed.”
Of the four million people displaced, more than 100,000 are still living across 381 evacuation centers. “You have a lot of people in a crowded place, without much to do. There is no electricity, so a lot of [common] places are not well–lit. These are all factors that put women and girls at increased risk for violence,” said Nolibelyn Macabagdal, a DSWD social worker.
Based on the prevalence of gender–based violence in the affected provinces, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that 375,000 women and girls had experienced sexual violence before Haiyan and warns that without concrete efforts to improve security, and interventions focused on gender–based violence and trafficking, this number could increase by 75,000.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is overseeing evacuation camps for the municipality of Guiuan in Eastern Samar Province, has built separate bathing and toilet facilities for men, women and children. “These facilities are located on either side of the camp to make sure that people don’t have to walk very far to get to them,” Andrew Lind, the IOM focal point for shelter and camp coordination management (CCM), told IRIN.
The Christian Aid country team, together with partners and communities, are now planning the next phase of the response, which will include supporting people to build back their homes and livelihoods.
