By Muktar Farah, OCHA Philippines Head of Office
Update as of 21 October 2016: To access the full report, please follow this link:
Makita
City, Philippines - Typhoon Haima (locally named Lawin) made landfall in
Peñablanca, Cagayan province, at 11 p.m. on 19 October as a Category 4 typhoon
with sustained winds of 225 km/h and gusts of up to 315 km/h. After landfall,
it quickly downgraded to a Category 3 typhoon, leaving a broad path of debris,
damage to homes and buildings, flooding and landslides.
According
to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services
Administration (PAGASA), as of 5:00 p.m., 20 October, Typhoon Haima was located
260 km west-northwest of Laoag City, Ilocos Norte province, with maximum sustained
winds up to 130 km/h near the centre and gusts up to 160 km/h. It continues to
weaken as it moves away from the country and will exit the Philippine Area of
Responsibility tonight.
Estimated
rainfall amounts are from moderate to heavy within the 700 km diameter of the
typhoon. Sea travel is risky over the northern and eastern seaboards of
northern Luzon. Tropical cyclone warning signal (TCWS) number 1 (30-60 km/h
winds expected in 24 hours) is in effect for the provinces of Ilocos Norte,
Ilocos Sur, La Union and Abra. All other tropical cyclone warning signals have
been lifted.
Approximately
90,000 people were pre-emptively evacuated in Regions I, II, II, IV-A, V and
Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), according to the information available
from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). NDRRMC
is validating eight reported casualties in Ifugao, Isabela, Ilocos Norte and
Cagayan provinces. It reports a total of 230 evacuation centres operating in
the affected areas, but is confirming the number of people displaced. There are
37 roads in Cagayan and Isabela that are not passable. The initial
observation is that Tuguegarao City, where the regional government offices are
located, does not have major humanitarian issues at this time. Houses made of
concrete have suffered roof damage, but houses made of light materials have
been destroyed.
The
Government of the Philippines undertook considerable preparedness activities to
mitigate the effects of the typhoon as it approached the country. Local
authorities are now leading the relief and debris clearing operations. 5
million People within the 100 km radius of the typhoon track 175,500 People
living below the poverty level within the 100 km radius of the typhoon track 21
UN agencies, INGOs, local partners present in the affected area Source: OCHA
Philippines The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this
map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
Philippines Typhoon Haima Situation Report No. 1 | 2 United Nations Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Coordination Saves Lives |
www.unocha.org
NDRRMC
has requested support from Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and Philippine Disaster
Resilience Foundation (PDRF), a network of Filipino businesses, to gather more
data over the next two days in the most affected areas and to mobilize
additional logistic support to transport humanitarian aid. PRC will deploy
various vehicles to support debris removal, search and rescue and delivery of
relief items. Two PRC assessment and chapter support teams are also on standby
at headquarters for dispatch to travel to Abra, Ilocos Norte, and Ilocos Sur,
Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Aurora provinces. PDRF, in partnership with
NDRRMC, distributed the relief items, including solar lamps, relief bags, mats,
sacks of clothing and towels and bottled water.
Far
East Broadcasting Company-First Response Radio (FRR-FEBC), through its local
radio network partner DZMR 1143 AM, is working with the Santiago City
government in Isabela, the Region II office of the Philippine Information
Agency, local non-government organizations (NGO) and affected communities in a
series of humanitarian radio programming. Its broadcast coverage reaches the
provinces of Isabela and Aurora, as well as parts of CAR. The radio programme
reports on weather updates, ongoing response of the local government and local
NGOs on WASH, food distribution, child protection and restoration of
communication lines in Isabela and Cagayan.
The
Humanitarian Coordinator has made a written offer of assistance to the
Government on 19 October. While the Government has not called for international
support at this time, it has made a targeted request for logistical support to
WFP using in-country resources to transport food items. Typhoon Haima is the
twelfth cyclone to affect the Philippines this year. It followed Typhoon
Sarika, which struck central Luzon four days ago.
Needs
Assessments teams composed of Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Armed Forces of the Philippines and
Philippine National Police based in Tuguegarao City plan to undertake a rapid
assessment of Cagayan municipalities on 21 October. OCHA and World Food
Programme (WFP) teams on the ground are ready to support this exercise. Also,
members of the Philippine International NGO Network are coordinating teams to
participate in damage assessments. There are currently 21 organizations in the
affected areas conducting needs assessments. Member organizations of the
Community Engagement Community of Practice are conducting rapid information communication
accountability assessments in Aurora, Cagayan and Isabela. Participating
organizations include Action Against Hunger (ACF), CARE, FRR-FEBC, IOM, Oxfam,
Peace and Conflict Journalism Network, Save the Children, SkyEye, United
Methodist Communications and World Vision. Most clusters are also starting
their assessments.
A
Camp Coordination and Camp Management team is on its way to Tuguegarao City.
From there, the team will survey people displaced in Cagayan, Isabela and
Aurora until 23 October. Emergency shelter assessments are also ongoing. The
Education cluster is supporting the Department of Education’s assessment of
damage to schools over the weekend. FAO will participate this weekend, as well,
in an assessment led by the Department of Agriculture of affected farmlands.
The
National Nutrition Council has mobilized and is conducting its own assessment
of affected areas. It has therapeutic food supplements available for
deployment. The Health and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene clusters report the extensive
pre-positioning medicines and medical supplies, as well as aquatabs and other
sanitation items. The Protection cluster will determine any need for protection
coordination based assessment results, but has a UNHCR team ready to deploy.
Child
Protection Working Groups (CPWG) in Region I and CAR have been activated and
the Child Protection sub-cluster, in partnership with the Community Engagement
Community of Practice, has disseminated key protection messages in the affected
areas. Additionally, WFP has pre-positioned emergency telecommunications and
logistical assets and equipment, as well as food resources provided by the
Australian government. NDRRMC is planning to use the three commercial airports
in Laoag City, Tuguegarao City and Cuayan, Isabela, as possible humanitarian
distribution hubs in the next two days to augment the response of various
affected local government units.
General
Coordination, NDRRMC is holding daily response coordination meetings in which
OCHA is participating. Philippines Typhoon Haima Situation Report No. 1 | 3
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Coordination Saves Lives | www.unocha.org , The Humanitarian Country Team and
the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group met on 20 October respectively for a
situation analysis and to discuss next steps. The Emergency Response
Preparedness Working Group, a broader forum for inter-cluster coordination, met
on 17 October and reviewed support options that were available.
OCHA,
upon the invitation of OCD, deployed two teams to Tuguegarao City on 19 October
to facilitate the liaison between the authorities and international
organizations. Agencies deploying teams to the affected areas are encouraged to
contact OCHA. Humanitarianresponse.info is being used by humanitarian partners
to share information about assessments. The Government is using the hashtags
#LawinPH for regular updates for this typhoon, as well as standardized hashtags
, #ReliefPH, #RescuePH, #FloodPH to monitor requests for assistance.
No comments:
Post a Comment