Food running out for Philippine typhoon survivors

MANILA • Philippine officials and residents of areas that bore the brunt of Typhoon Rai pleaded for food, water and shelter yesterday as damaged roads, flooding, and severed power and communication lines hampered relief efforts.

Rai struck last Thursday, the strongest storm to hit the archipelago this year, killing nearly 400 people and affecting 1.8 million, displacing 630,000 of them, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"Our food supply is running low. Maybe, in a few days, we will totally run out," said Ms Fely Pedrablanca, Mayor of Tubajon town on Dinagat Island.

The area, facing the Pacific Ocean, was devastated by the typhoon and she said only nine out of more than 2,000 homes in her town were left standing.

The coast guard has deployed vessels to help in relief work and in trying to reach areas still cut-off, and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) planned to ferry people to safety, including tourists stranded on the holiday island of Siargao.

"We're fighting a tremendous disaster. It's Haiyan all over again," PRC chairman Richard Gordon told Reuters, referring to one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever, which killed 6,300 people in the Philippines in 2013.

In the province of Southern Leyte, evacuation centres were also destroyed, said Mr Roger Mercado, acting chief of the public works agency, as he appealed for tents and construction material.

Damage to infrastructure in Southern Leyte, where residents were in desperate need of food and water, could reach 3 billion pesos (S$82 million), Mr Mercado told DZMM radio.

At least 375 people were killed and 56 are missing. More than 500 were hurt, police said yesterday.

"The government prepositioned food and non-food items but they are not enough because many are in need," said Mr Danilo Atienza, Southern Leyte's disaster chief.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered state agencies to restore power and communications as he promised 10 billion pesos for recovery efforts.

Foreign aid has also started to arrive, including from Japan and China, while the United Nations said it was working with partners to help in the areas of shelter, health, food, protection and other life-saving responses.

The International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies in the Philippines have made an emergency appeal for US$22 million (S$30 million) to fund urgent relief and recovery efforts. Britain has pledged around US$1 million to the IFRC effort, while Canada promised about US$2.3 million in assistance.

Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan sent his condolences to Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin yesterday on "the deaths, displacements and destruction" wrought by the typhoon. He also said Singapore stands ready to provide any assistance required.

Rai hit the Philippines late in the typhoon season - most cyclones develop between July and October.

Meanwhile, another storm could be on the way. The state weather agency warned that a low pressure area was moving towards Mindanao and had a "30-40 per cent chance to develop into a tropical depression".

Scientists have long warned that typhoons are strengthening more rapidly as the world becomes warmer because of human-driven climate change. The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 storms each year.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE