GMA NEWS: NOV. 11, 2013 UN to issue flash appeal for PHL as countries pledge aid for Yolanda victims By MICHAELA DEL CALLAR Some 21 countries have offered humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda as the United Nations is poised to make a flash appeal for the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday. Offers of assistance, Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said, are in the form of search and rescue teams and medical personnel, relief goods, medical supplies and vaccines, cash, and the offer to deploy ships and aircraft. The countries that have made offers of assistance include: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, and the Netherlands. New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union has also pledged financial aid and in-kind donations as well as the deployment of medical and search-and-rescue teams while Taiwan has allocated financial assistance and various relief items. “International response is very encouraging and we welcome all these support of solidarity from other parts of the world,” Hernandez said in a press briefing. All donations are being coursed through the Office of Civil Defense and the National Disasters Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC), he said, adding auditing of foreign assistance will be made by the NDRRMC. Hernandez said the Philippines has also accepted an offer from the United Nations to issue a flash appeal which will be launched soon. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a flash appeal is used to create a coordinated humanitarian response for the first three to six months of an emergency. It is usually issued within a week of an emergency. “In this connection, the UN is now undertaking the needs-assessment activities in the affected areas,” Hernandez said. International organizations like the United Nations Children’s Fund, Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam have pledged assistance. At least 10 million people, mostly in the Visayas region, have been affected by Yolanda when it slammed into the country last Friday. The storm, also known by its international name Haiyan, wrought destruction in the Central Philippines and areas in its direct path. Hernandez said other organizations, individuals, and Filipino communities abroad who wish to help may course their donations through the NDRRMC, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Philippine Red Cross. — JDS, GMA News
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:05:37 +0000
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