Story of a typhoon Haiyan survivor.

Her name is Anatalia M. Cabrera, 68 years old, singled-female household who was born on December 1, 1945 in Brgy. Poblacion, Tolosa, Leyte. She is popularly known as “Mana Tayang” in the locals and has been a resident of Tolosa for most of her existence. She is the 3^rd child amongst 4 children of a farmer, Mr. Eleuterio and housewife, Mrs. Angela Cabrera.  Growing up to them was not that much easy, Anatalia was not born with a silver platter or a golden spoon instead came from humble beginnings and had her fair share with hurdles in life. She came from a poor family, “there are days that we are broke and something to eat was scarce”, as she recalls.

Anatalia had troubles in schooling. She admits she was not on top of the class and don’t have much interest in getting an education which entirely affected by financial capability of her family.

At the age of 18, her mother got sick and was diagnosed with tuberculosis which needs a continuous medication for 6 months. It was one of the turning point where they had to work extra hard to earn for a living. As to his father, he tries to make both ends meet. By the age of 24 which Anatalia was still on her secondary education, her mother died. Three years later, her father died because of beriberi disease which left them as orphans. Anatalia had gone through everyday struggles to survive since all her siblings have built their own families thereafter. 

At the age of 27, she was forced to work away from Tolosa to look for a better source of living. She worked in Manila as a residential cook for 3 years and at the same time sends herself to College. Portion of her salary goes for expenses of schooling and some became her savings. She was a self supporting student but was not able to finish College due to financial constraints.

After working in Manila, she went back to Tolosa to settle. All her savings was spent for the improvement of the house left by her parents which she happily accomplished the construction of her latrine and kitchen. She started to put up a small variety store which sells cooked and raw vegetables. Sometimes she also sells candies and other goodies outside a primary school. It was her typical activities of everyday living. On the year 2012, Anatalia joined an organization called Bayanihan which was composed of 12 members and their main objective was to generate livelihood for their members through buy and sell of rice grains.

Anatalia is also a devout and been active in Church activities such as Catechism, in fact she is part of a Church group called Catechumenate which conducts religious and values education in some schools. 

To date, she is now an elderly living alone and her neighbors became the major support systems in times of hardships or needing help like during disasters.

TYPHOON HAIYAN:

                                                                                                    Few days prior to the disaster, news started to emerge regarding the birth of Typhoon Haiyan or locally named as Typhoon Yolanda. At first, Anatalia did not felt any urgency and threat to the typhoon because Philippines had been through such a lot though can’t help to sense a containable mild level of anxiety. Additionally, she recalled, “There was still a fine weather, mostly sunny and seldom raindrops. No hints the typhoon can be bad as it was”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              On November 6, 2013, news started to be more serious and persistent in advisory for the forecast strength and foreseeable devastation that the typhoon can bring. At this point, Anatalia has thought of the potential grievous effect of the upcoming typhoon.

             On November 7, 2013, Anatalia visited the Church, asked for guidance and protection from the Typhoon Haiyan. Did confession and prayed the rosary fervently. She also prepared clothes, foods and other necessary things she might need during any emergency situations.

                                                                                                                                             On November 8, 2013, at around 1am in the morning, strong winds start to blow in until 5am and Anatalia had still prepared to go to Church. By 6am, winds became stronger and zero visibility on the area. She knew that the worse has now started, thus she was helpless and all she did was pray. At the height of typhoon, Anatalia was asked to evacuate her house and went to her distant neighbor’s house. She went out of the house with a blanket overhead and carrying the emergency bag that she prepared. Unfortunately, the house also was wrecked by the typhoon. Anatalia was even hit by a stone on the head from the raging wrath of the typhoon. They had to hide underneath the sink until the typhoon pass. Afterwards, they transferred to another house. Anatalia was not able to take breakfast and lunch but was not also feeling any gist of hunger. By noon, she went to see her house and found that it was severely destroyed. All she could find was torn parts of her house and broken bricks. It was a heartbreaking moment for her, she was left with nothing. Nevertheless, she never loses hopes. She prayed for wisdom that she may be able to accept the aftermath situation.

                                                              She stayed in her distant relative for a week. At that time, no electricity, no source of communication and no open stores to buy for foods. They were all dependent to given reliefs from different organizations for her to survive everyday. Fortunately, there was assistance provided to her like tarpaulin and construction materials that helped in building a makeshift room for her to stay. A week after, she started cleaning her area.

              She joined a cash-for-work program, where they had to clean particular areas of the town. Activities include sweeping roads and disposing garbage. Her earnings were spent in the labor cost of making a better room for living. The room built was not enough to protect her from the cold weather and heavy rains.

                             By the month of April 2014, the Red Cross started its shelter project intervention in the Municipality of Tolosa. She underwent the process of house assessment, interviews, revalidation and others. Fortunately, she was picked to be the very first core shelter beneficiary of the shelter project. For her, it is a huge blessing and an ultimate gift that she couldn’t ask for more. It has far exceeded her expectations on the help she could get. Provided by Spanish Red Cross who worked with the Philippine Red Cross in building this home.

My Valentine’s Day disaster

I traveled with Elizabeth McNaughton on Valentine's day in Tacloban, Philippines, the worst area affected by Typhoon Haiyan. This is her story.

17 February 2014

---

It is a Valentine’s Day like no other and it starts early. I look out the jeep window, a little bleary eyed from the 4am start. Tacloban flashes past as we drive to a relief distribution. We slow a little as we come to a roundabout - it looks a little odd, kind of lumpy with little sticks and flowers on it. I lean up against the window for a better look - my stomach drops. My sleepy mind had mistaken a mass grave for a council gardener’s mishap. Five minutes after arriving at the airport I feel walloped by reality. I guess this is what you can expect from the strongest cyclone on record to ever make landfall.

We stop at the relief distribution site. I sit a little before getting out. There are loads of concrete slabs – the remains of the buildings that once stood here. They make me shiver as they remind me of the Boxing Day Tsunami. My eyes dance over the life around me and settle on a tiny clearing next to a palm hut. The hut has a precarious lean to it and a patch it job barely holds it together. Traffic whizzes by on the narrow road inviting calamity only to be saved at the last minute by a cacophony of horns. It is here that I am privy to a special moment.
A dad is hunched over washing a beautiful little boy. He does it in such a caring way. I can see that a bucket bath on the roadside has become a familiar ritual for them both. The little chap is completely lathered up and delights in the attention. He squirms and smiles as cold water runs down his back, completely oblivious to the beeping horns and chaos around him. I think perhaps it is these constants and rituals that help people through times like this. I think of my precious husband and son back home, and then I can’t help it, I think of the fathers and sons under the roundabout. Enough thinking. I jump out of the jeep.
A Philippine Red Cross volunteer hands me a box, one of 100,000 that the Red Cross has distributed to families. A simple hygiene kit – the basics bring dignity. I get my bureaucracy off and a sweat on. With almost every box I hand over I am offered a ‘thank you and happy Valentine’s Day’ greeting in return. I don’t want to say ‘you’re welcome’ because these brave and strong people have a right to dignity - they have a right to the basics - to be clean. No thanks required. So, I start to say things along the lines of ‘Happy Valentine’s Day and take care’.
It reminds me of our distribution of winter warmer packs in Christchurch. People told us ‘we thought everyone had forgotten about us - and then you came’.  It was not only things that we distributed but care - because homes and families are broken long after the media goes home! In 10,000 different ways our volunteers said to Cantabrians ‘we care about you’.
650 kits are distributed and we head back to base camp. I drop my gear in tent number 8 and head to the kitchen.
To my delight I find that there are four Kiwis at base camp that night. Bob McKerrow a Red Cross legend whose home town is Christchurch, James Hynes our IT & Telecommunications Emergency Response Unit team member and Charles Ranby who worked all hours of the day and night during the New Zealand Red Cross response to the Canterbury earthquakes.
It is a strange merging of worlds - as we Kiwis work together in the Philippines so do Filipinos in Christchurch.  They mourn their loss as they tirelessly rebuild our city.  As the anniversary of February 22^nd draws near we remember our loss as we see theirs.  I spoke to a Filipino official who told me how she only slept three hours a night for 47 nights following the Typhoon.  I see it on her face just as I see it on the faces of so many dedicated New Zealanders who still put life and sleep on hold to support the earthquake recovery effort.  I must say at base camp tonight Christchurch and Tacloban do not feel far apart at all.
As I turn out my wee light in tent number 8 I think back to the roundabout and all those people out there in the world tonight who don’t have their Valentine this year, and those who can no longer give their little boy a bath.
Photo credit: Bob McKerrow/Swiss Red Cross

Elizabeth McNaughton
Writing from Philippines

Elizabeth is an experienced aid worker who is currently in the Philippines as the IFRC’s Interim Recovery Coordinator. She has previously worked in south Asia after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, and was the New Zealand Red Cross national recovery manager after the Canterbury earthquakes. She is currently the Principal Advisor, Strategy and Planning, to New Zealand Red Cross secretary general Tony Paine.

Let’s help the Philippines — but not like we helped Haiti

A smarter way to help

I've been working for the Red Cross in the Philippines since mid November and I have been conscious  that every step of the way we need to learn from past mistakes and replicate the fine models that worked so well in Gujarat, Pakistan earthquake, Pakistan floods, West Sumatra earthquake, Haiti and the Asian Tsunami.

Looking back I think this is one of the best articles I have read on lessons learned and we owe it to the affected people and the world at large, to follow up diligently.

Wally Santana/Associated Press - Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan plead with military for water as they wait for an evacuation flight in the central Philippines on Nov. 14.

By Vijaya Ramachandran and Owen Barder.

Vijaya Ramachandran is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. Owen Barder is a senior fellow and the director of the Center for Global Development in Europe. This essay is adapted from a post they wrote on the center’s blog.

The immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, such as the typhoon that devastated part of the Philippines on Nov. 8, can bring out the best in the global community. Already we are seeing the world’s governments and citizens responding generously to appeals for aid, reaffirming our shared humanity.
The challenge is to ensure that this generosity reaches the people who desperately need it. Relief and reconstruction efforts in the Philippines have much to learn from previous mega-disasters, including, most recently, the massive earthquake in Haiti in 2010. We should help the Philippines — just not like we helped Haiti. We can, and must, help better.

Lack of generosity is typically not the problem. Since Haiti’s quake, almost $6 billion in official aid has been disbursed in a country with a population of just under 10 million. Large nongovernmental organizations and private contractors, mostly in the United States or Europe, have been the initial recipients of most of these funds. But there are few publicly available records of what they have done with the money, and almost four years after the quake there is little to show on the ground: Even the Haitian capital still lacks decent roads, running water and reliable electricity, and an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 Haitians still live in tents.Pierre Erold Etienne, director general of the Haitian Finance Ministry, put it clearly: “We are required to be transparent. We publish the financial information relevant to the execution of our budget. All we ask is for the same transparency from our donor friends, which should help both us and them.”
Problems arising from a lack of donor transparency are not unique to Haiti. About five years earlier, after a tsunami devastated coastal communities from Indonesia to India, well-meaning but disjointed aid efforts led to bottlenecks, gaps and duplication. The Red Cross reported that there were too many doctors but not enough midwives in Indonesia’s Banda Aceh province. Children became ill with the symptoms of measles after being vaccinated three times by three organizations, because the NGOs did not share records of which immunizations children had received. In India’s Tamil Nadu state, victims complained that they had all the cooking pots they could ever want, but needed shelter.
The international community can and must do better in the Philippines, and there is reason to be hopeful. The first crowdsourced map of the path of Typhoon Haiyan, compiled by volunteers around the world using publicly available data, was online less than 72 hours after the storm. In the days ahead, this open-source map can be used to track where people need help and what kind of help they need. But unless things change, some key data will be missing: official information from governments and private charities about their planned and actual responses.
Coordinating response plans can be very time-consuming, so it is understandable that it often takes second place to the urgency of getting help to people who need it. Transparency, on the other hand, does not require centralized coordination and would enable everyone to make smarter decisions, informed by the knowledge of what others are doing. Yet organizations that find the time to issue news releases and organize photo-ops do not seem to be able to spare the resources to post information about what exactly they are doing and where.
This could change fast, using platforms already in place. The Financial Tracking Service (FTS) of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is specifically designed for this role. The European Union has a compatible system, the European Disaster Response Information System, through which donors can exchange information with the FTS and one another. Both systems will soon be able to share data with the global standard for aid transparency — the International Aid Transparency Initiative. For humanitarian aid, the U.N. and E.U. systems are fully operational; the challenge is persuading leaders of relief and aid agencies to commit to using them.
The response to Typhoon Haiyan can and should be the first major relief effort in which all humanitarian organizations and aid agencies publish the details of their planned and actual spending and activities online, in real time, using a common format. This simple step would enable donors and the Philippine government to identify where activities overlap and where gaps remain, and would allow everyone who contributes to see where the money is going.
The United States, which has announced $20 million in typhoon relief, with more likely to follow, should be a leader in this effort. The U.S. Agency for International Development is already required to report publicly on the activities of its primary contractors. But the actual work is usually done by subcontractors, and USAID does not collect or publish information about what they do.
This is not hard to fix: USAID Administrator Raj Shah should announce that, starting with the Philippine relief and reconstruction effort, the agency will require all primary contractors to publicly disclose project-level data on their subcontractors’ activities in a timely fashion. This would not only help avoid overlaps and gaps in aid in the short term but would also make it possible to learn lessons about what worked — so we can do better in future disasters. American taxpayers should settle for nothing less.
Of course, national and global aid agencies are not the only purveyors of assistance; the far-flung Philippine diaspora will undoubtedly help the victims of Haiyan. Research by Dean Yang at the University of Michigan has shown that in previous disasters in the Philippines, increased remittances from Filipinos working abroad helped to make up for as much as 60 percent of economic losses. This is very good insurance; other developing countries thinking about disaster preparedness may want to consider following the Philippines’ example and actively support citizens’ efforts to temporarily work abroad.
One area where the Philippines has done less well is in the provision of secure identification, such as biometric IDs that are viable even if physical identification cards and supporting paperwork have been destroyed. Biometric ID, which uses new low-cost technology for iris scans, fingerprints and other unique traits, makes it possible to provide large numbers of poor people with proof of their identity. Research by our colleague Alan Gelb has shown that effective identification empowers the poor. It is crucial for the fair distribution of relief assistance, for government cash transfers and for the secure delivery of remittances.
A good example of ID success comes from an unexpected place: Pakistan. In July 2010, floods covered a fifth of the country and millions of families lost their homes, with housing damage alone estimated at $1.5 billion. Many people sought refuge in temporary camps and urgently needed assistance to rebuild their homes and farms. Pakistan was able to take advantage of a national biometric-identification database to identify displaced people and provide them with cards that could be used at banks and other points of service to receive cash payments to help them rebuild.
The first phase provided about $250 to each head of a flood-affected household, and a second phase brought the total to $1,250. The later phase is still being evaluated, but assessments of the first phase show that the payment mechanism succeeded; money reached the intended beneficiaries rather than being diverted. Recipients were easily able to withdraw their benefits, and most incurred only small travel costs to reach a location where they could get their cash.
Despite some difficulties with the process — for example, not all people had kept their information up to date in the national database — most wished to receive further transfers through the cards, and some also wanted to turn their relief card accounts into permanent bank accounts. About 85 percent of the initial grant was used for food, medicine, health care, clothing, shoes, reconstruction, tools and other investment goods. Beyond the flood response, Pakistan’s ID is now being used more widely to underpin the provision of social grants, such as programs for poor women.
The survivors of Haiyan have a lot to worry about in the days and months ahead, and the world is ready and willing to help. To make that aid effective, and to ensure that it reaches the people who need it, donors, starting with the United States, should commit to full and rapid transparency. Donors should also offer to support the Philippines in rolling out biometric ID, should the country want it. While it’s much better to put identification systems in place ahead of a disaster, India, which has implemented a massive program that has already identified half a billion people, has shown how quickly the technology can be rolled out.
We must think ahead. Haiyan will not be the last typhoon to strike; nor is the Philippines the only vulnerable country. The international community must embrace the technology available to strengthen disaster preparedness, resilience and aid.


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Latest update on Red Cross work in Typhoon Haiyan (Yolande), Philippines.

 

I've been working for the Swiss Red Cross for over two months in the Philippines on the Typhoon Hariyan (Yolande) relief operation which is now moving into the recovery stage. I am back home for a short break and will be back in Manila next Monday, 3 February as we launch into the long-term recovery phase.  The latest update on Red Cross work has just been compiled.

The Philippine Red Cross distributing shelter kits and corrugated sheeting ,supplied by the Swiss Red Cross on Bantayan Island in northern Cebu. To date Swiss Red Cross have supplied 5000 shelter kits, 56000 sheets of iron, and 2000 cash grants plus family tents and health clinic tents.

 Situational Snapshot
• According to the latest NDRRMC update, Situational Report No. 92, the
number of registered deaths is 6,201 with 1,785 persons still missing. A total
of 890,895 families were displaced. The number of damaged houses is
1,140,332 (550,928 totally, 589,404 partially).
• Between 17 and 20 January, the tropical depression Agaton crossed the
southern Philippines causing loss of life and damages. Although the storm did
not follow the same path as Haiyan, heavy rains and strong winds associated
with the depression affected the Visayas, causing further damages as well as
complications and delays for Red Cross Red Crescent Movement operations.
Philippines Red Cross - Highlights
• The Revised Appeal published 16 January is seeking a total amount of CHF
126,156,616 to support PRC in assisting up to 100,000 families (500,000
people) for 24 months. The main sectors to be covered by the Appeal are
shelter, livelihoods, health, and water and sanitation. The Appeal will be
updated in March following the publication of recovery assessment findings
and the upcoming mid-February Movement Summit led by PRC.
• The four Recovery Assessment teams deployed to Panay, Palawan, Leyte,
and Cebu completed their activities after three weeks in the field. A two-day
workshop was held on 23 and 24 January in Manila for the teams to share
their findings and finalize field reports. The recovery assessment was led by
PRC with the support of IFRC and Partner National Societies. An integrated
PRC Recovery Assessment Report will be prepared and the findings will be
used to update the PRC Plan of Action in the weeks to come.
• A Red Cross Red Crescent Movement Summit will be held on 12 and 13
February in Manila. The Summit aims to establish the basis of our joint
operation for the years to come through a clear commitment of Movement
Partners with a shared Movement Wide Operational Framework built upon i)
the PRC vision and strategy, ii) shared operational objectives for Typhoon
Haiyan/ Yolanda relief and recovery operation, iii) an agreed framework for
Movement cooperation and relations with external actors, and iv) quality
programming and accountability in our support to disaster affected
communities. Prior to the Summit, an Asia Pacific Regional Meeting for the
Philippines will be held in Manila on 11 February to reflect on regional
cooperation and coordination in disaster preparedness.
 

The key word for this reporting period is transition. As operations shift from relief to recovery phase, FACT members and the various ERUs still operating are expected to conclude their activities by the end of February. They are currently planning or already implementing handover and exit strategies.
Relief
As of 26 January, distributions of non-food items had reached more than 77,000 families of the 100,000 target. The pace of distribution is scaling up with three sub-logistics hubs fully active in Leyte, Cebu, and Panay even though transportation is still a challenge due to frequent bad sea conditions.
A consolidated non-food items distribution plan has been finalized together with PRC, with an end target date of 28 February. Thus, an additional ERU team rotation is planned for the Relief ERUs (American Red Cross based in Tacloban, Benelux on Panay Island, and French Red Cross based in Ormoc) and Logistics ERUs (Finnish Red Cross/ Danish Red Cross and British Red Cross) to support PRC until the end of February.
Progress towards PRC/ IFRC relief ERU distribution household targetsby PRC chapter as of 26 January 2014
Post-distribution monitoring (PDM) is being carried out by relief teams in order to update information on thegeneral situation of the population, focusing on the quantity and quality of relief assistance provided to beneficiaries. A common PDM questionnaire was designed and shared with relief teams, and Open Data
Kit (ODK) will be used to manage mobile data collection and facilitate analysis.
PRC volunteers are trained to conduct sensitization activities in parallel to distributions of shelter items on how to “build back build safer and do it yourself.” Shelter Regional Disaster Response Team (RDRT) delegates trained 30 volunteers from Panay PRC Chapters and supervised 28 emergency shelter sensitization sessions. Trainings were also held in Tacloban.
IFRC and PRC teams are working on exit strategies that explore opportunities to target new households for distributions. PRC chapter capacity building will also be considered through soft approach such as training,  support for office rehabilitation, or support for building local storage capacity.

* Additional households are being identified in order to reach the plan of 50,000.
Water and Sanitation (WatSan)
Three WatSan ERU teams were deployed in the field in response to typhoon Haiyan. The Swedish Red Cross/ Austrian Red Cross mass sanitation module (MSM) ERU in Tacloban concluded its activities on 16January. The two others, the Spanish ERU M15 in Tolosa and the German Red Cross/ Austrian Red Cross ERU MSM20 in Dulag, are expected to complete their activities before the end of February and have now entered a dismantling, handover and exit process.
The Swedish Red Cross/ Austrian Red Cross Mass Sanitation ERU in Tacloban:
• Ended its operations on 16 January with departure of the second team rotation.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Operational Highlights / Typhoon Haiyan Appeal - 27 January 2014
• Produced 124,000 litres of water and constructed 46 latrines. The Swedish Red Cross conducted
six hygiene promotion trainings for a total of 97 PRC volunteers. In turn, the volunteers organized
571 hygiene promotion activities reaching 4,947 people within targeted communities.
• Conducted vector control training for 10 PRC volunteers.
• Ensured sustainability of the laboratory established by the ERU and handed over to PRC with the
arrival of a microbiologist delegate on 14 January for one month. PRC staff and volunteers are
trained to manage the laboratory and perform routine water-quality testing.
The German Red Cross/ Austrian Red Cross ERU M20 in Dulag:
• As of 21 January, in collaboration with PRC, had constructed 121 latrines reaching 4,359 people.
• Performed 79 sanitation interventions, mainly latrine repairs in schools, reaching 9,315 people.
• Trained 97 volunteers in hygiene promotion. The volunteers organized 278 hygiene promotion
campaigns reaching 47,455 people.
• Conducted a vector control training for 20 PRC volunteers.
• Will conclude operations in the field by the end of February. A last ERU team of 4 has been on site
since 22 January, preparing the handover.
The Spanish Red Cross ERU M15 in Tolosa:
• Is expected to close production and distribution activities in February with the departure of the
fourth ERU team rotation. This final team arrived in Tolosa on 22 January and will continue to work
on a daily basis with a trained team of 7 PRC volunteers. The ERU team operates a water
production and distribution centre while also supporting the PRC in implementing hygiene and
promotion activities.
• As of 20 January, produced 4,870,355 litres of water and delivered 4,557,864 litres in Tolosa
and surrounding areas.
• Conducted training in hygiene promotion for 56volunteers. The volunteers have held 12 hygiene
promotion activities reaching 594 people.
• Continues to supply the German Red Cross/Austrian Red Cross ERU M20 and other
Movement activities with purified water.
• Is implementing an exit strategy, shifting focus away from water production and distribution and
intensifying activities in barangays around rehabilitation of key facilities such as communal hand
pumps, household water treatment, and water quality monitoring.
• In accordance with the exit strategy, 31 of the 37 distribution points have been dismantled with 6
remaining to be dismantled progressively.

Health
The Canadian Red Cross/ Norwegian Red Cross Basic Health Unit (BHU) ERU was deployed to
Ormoc, set up a field hospital, and began seeing patients on 21 November. One month later, all patients could be transferred from the tents into the district hospital and the field hospital was taken down. Clinical teaching and bedside care continued in the hospital on maternal child health. The ERU concluded clinical activities in the hospital by the end of December. However, psychosocial and community health module activities continue. Three delegates remain on site for dismantling, handover and exit strategy.
The PRC has indicated that the ERU handover and exit strategy is consistent with its current plan to fortify capacity in disaster management. The Canadian Red Cross/ Norwegian Red Cross BHU is currently being stored in the IFRC warehouse in Cebu where it will be reconfigured and replenished with consumables and medications. The ERU team will hold training for PRC volunteers in late February on the set-up and operation of the BHU and provide delegate support in the event of deployment. Current activities involve replenishment, training, and liaising with PRC and IFRC.
Cumulatively the BHU ERU:
• Admitted 1,226 patients (female: 22%, male: 78%; 33% under five years of age), performed a total
of 114 surgeries, and supported 418 deliveries. Deliveries represented 30% of patients seen by the
ERU, followed by diarrhoea cases (13%), acute respiratory illnesses (12%), and surgeries (9%).
• Provided pychosocial support to 3,800 children and adults.
• Trained 50 PRC volunteers in psychosocial support.
• Trained 23 PRC volunteers in violence prevention.
• Held workshops on play, art therapy, and stress management attended by 157 teachers.
• Conducted various trainings for PRC volunteers, health staff at Ormoc District hospital, and
community health promoters in Ormoc and Tacloban.
The Japanese Red Cross Society (JRCS) Basic Health Clinic (BHC) ERU started its clinical activities in the rural health unit (RHU) of Maya, Cebu and also began operating a mobile clinic in Daanbantayan, Cebu on 20 November. The ERU has also been active supporting preventive health measures through
community based health (CBH) and psychosocial activities.
The daily number of patients seen has shown a steady decline, and since the end of December appears to be consistent with pre-typhoon levels. Repairs at the RHU have allowed all services, other than delivery services, to resume. The secondary health care service and referral system is functioning. A third team of 10 delegates comprising three doctors, three nurses, two technicians and two administrators arrived on site 8 January. They continue activities while implementing the handover and exit plan. After the gradual closure of the fixed clinic the ERU will also phase out the mobile clinic and the community health module.

Between 15 and 21 January, the JRCS BHC ERU carried out 13 community health training activities for 84 barangay health workers as well as a midwives training for 17 midwives.

Logistics
• The structure of Logistics continues to be an operations hub in Cebu, two bases in Leyte (Palo and
Ormoc), and a hub on Panay Island. The ERUs are still present but preparing to transition duties. The
fourth ERU rotations will handover to long-term teams.
• Non-food item distributions are on track for completion by the end of February with the arrival in the Philippines of bed sheets and mats. All goods received notes (GRNs) for in kind donation (IKD) have now been reconciled and sent to donors. Donors are invited to contact Logistics if they have not yet received a GRN for donated items.
• In Cebu, the latest dispatches have been delayed due to bad weather conditions. Globally, the logistics operation is now running smoothly with only the usual few unavoidable glitches.
• The mobilization table was last updated on 19 December and indicated that all needs were covered in terms of required IKDs. The Revised Appeal did not identify new needs so there is no plan to revise the mobilization table at this time. However, the shelter plan when finalized may include corrugated iron sheets-CGI procured through ZLU and roofing kits that cannot be sourced locally. The support for those items would have to come through cash pledges towards relief.
• The long-term human resources plan has been globally well accepted and supported. All positions have been posted and closed. Final decisions are in process.
Information Technology/ Telecom (ITT)
During this reporting period the ITT ERU team has:
• Assisted incoming delegates with their IT setups.
• Supported the personnel at Cebu warehouse, Palo Base camp, and Tacloban PRC chapter.

• Been preparing a preliminary planning for the ITT needs for the new Tacloban PRC chapter
building.
• Prepared nine donated Dell laptops and five donated Iridium 9555 sat-phones for use by PRC
chapters.
The current ITT ERU comprises five members. A further team rotation is planned until a long-term delegate is appointed. The ERU team has been coordinating and looking for opportunities to cooperate with other agencies, and attending the emergency telecommunications cluster meetings. Radio site installations
planned for the third rotation have been postponed due to the late arrival of equipment.
Shelter Cluster - Highlights
• To date, 450,354 households have received basic emergency shelter materials. Support for shelter
self-recovery (SSR) for 46,747 households has been distributed or is currently on going. The SSR
number is lower than previously reported, because a large cluster partner submitted different data.
• The REACH assessment commissioned by the Shelter Cluster shows that most shelter assistance has been provided along the coasts and in urban areas even though many homes in rural and inland areas have also been destroyed. Given the shortage of funds, the Shelter Cluster is working together with
partners on a framework to improve targeting according to vulnerabilities.
• Together with the Early Recovery Cluster, the Shelter Cluster is looking at ways to utilize coco lumber from fallen trees for construction while mitigating the risk of market volatility.
• A survey conducted by the Shelter Cluster showed that 75 per cent of Shelter Cluster partners are
planning to provide affected households with information or training on how to build back safer.
• The Shelter Cluster team is supporting municipal and provincial authorities. In Capiz, the team is
supporting the government in developing the Provincial Recovery Strategy. In Cebu, the team is
developing a skills training program for municipal information managers.
• In Tacloban, the local government is preparing a relocation site 16 kilometres north of the city. Site
plans are for between 7,000 and 10,000 families.
• Shelter projects in the Strategic Response Plan are only 24 per cent funded (43 million of 178 million USD). This is at odds with the massive shelter needs. While funding also exists outside the SRP, significant funding gaps remain. This lack of funding means that many disaster survivors may not have adequate shelter in time for the next typhoon season.
• An Information Manager from MapAction and a GIS expert from British Red Cross have temporarily joined the Shelter Cluster team to assist with coordination of the shelter sector.

Norwegian Foreign Minister visits Typhoon Haiyan (Yolande) affected communities

Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende distributes rice seedlings to farmers in typhoon-hit Basey yesterday.  

 

 

I was happy to learn that Borge Brende the Norwegian Foreign Minister visited typhoon affected areas yesterday. In early 2010 when he was secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross I traveled with him through tsunami affected areas in Aceh and earthquake affected West Sumatra with Erik Solheim,  Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Environment, Government of Norway. I wrote an article at that time about him and Erik Solheim Minister, outlining their leadership qualities.

Here is an excerpt about his visit yesterday from the Philippines Star.

 

Visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende handed sacks of rice seedlings to farmers in Barangay Can-abay in Samar yesterday.

Speaking to reporters, Brende said the situation in Typhoon Yolanda-hit areas remained critical.
“The needs are immense and a huge effort is being made by a wide range of actors,” he said.
Ador Amascual, Basey municipal agricultural officer, said 1,914 bags of rice seedlings were distributed to the farmers in Basey.
“If they missed this planting season they would not harvest until the next harvest season in October,” he said. “And they would have to rely on food aid for almost a year.”
Brende said Norway is closely monitoring the humanitarian situation in Philippines.

 In 2010 Iyang Sukandar, Borge Brende and Bob McKerrow having dinner in Aceh. Iyang and Borge were enjoyable traveling companions as you see and feel their commitment and passion for their work. They also have a great sense of fun and we were laughing a lot.

Norway has sent some experts and equipment through the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Emergency Standby Roster and the Norwegian Emergency Preparedness System, Brende said.
He personally supervised his government’s humanitarian operations in Samar and discussed its role in the recovery efforts.
Accompanying Brende were Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in the Philippines Rajendra Aryal and Department of Agriculture Eastern Visayas executive director Antonio Gerundio.
Brende also visited devastated rice lands in the municipality, particularly in Barangay Tingib, and had an interaction with the farmers.
Pointing to the rice fields behind her, Marygrace Andalan, 44, told Brende they were about to harvest their palay when Yolanda inundated their farms.
“It destroyed some 200 bags of our ready-for-harvest palay planted in our four hectares rice lands,” she said.
Andalan’s family is one of the 43,579 typhoon-affected families getting support from the FAO with quality, certified rice seed in time for the planting season.
The DA has reported that some 600,000 hectares of rice lands were devastated and some 1.1 metric tons of crops were lost – about 80 percent in Eastern Visayas – following the devastation of Yolanda.
Paul Manalo, FAO emergency communications consultant, has requested support for the 63,234 hectares of devastated rice crops in Eastern Visayas alone.
FAO has bridged the gap for rice seeds in Eastern Visayas through the support of Switzerland, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Belgium, as well as from the UN-CERF funds, he added.
FAO, in collaboration with the DA, is the first organization to deliver rice seeds to Eastern Visayas.
Brende proceeded to Tacloban City and Basey after a short visit to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.

More about Borge from Wiki.


Børge Brende (born 25 September 1965) is a Norwegian politician from the Conservative Party and has been as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 16 October 2013. He served as Minister of the Environment 2001–2004 and as Minister of Trade and Industry 2004–2005, and as a member of the Storting 1997–2009.
Brende served as Chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development 2003-2004. In 2005 he took up the appointment of International Vice Chairman of the China Council for the International Cooperation on Environment and Development (advisory board to the State Council).
In January 2008, Brende joined the World Economic Forum as Managing Director, particularly in charge of relations with governments and civil society. In 2009, Børge Brende joined the Norwegian Red Cross as Secretary General.^[1] He re-joined the World Economic Forum in 2011 as Managing Director with responsibility for policy initiatives and engagement of the Forum's non-business constituents.^[2]
Brende is married and has two sons.^[3][4


Børge Brende (born 25 September 1965) is a Norwegian politician from the Conservative Party and has been as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 16 October 2013. He served as Minister of the Environment 2001–2004 and as Minister of Trade and Industry 2004–2005, and as a member of the Storting 1997–2009.
Brende served as Chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development 2003-2004. In 2005 he took up the appointment of International Vice Chairman of the China Council for the International Cooperation on Environment and Development (advisory board to the State Council).
In January 2008, Brende joined the World Economic Forum as Managing Director, particularly in charge of relations with governments and civil society. In 2009, Børge Brende joined the Norwegian Red Cross as Secretary General.^[1] He re-joined the World Economic Forum in 2011 as Managing Director with responsibility for policy initiatives and engagement of the Forum's non-business constituents.^[2]
Brende is married and has two sons.^[3][4