Venice faces more floods as state of emergency declared

VENICE, Italy — Flood-hit Venice was bracing for another exceptional high tide Friday, as Italy declared a state of emergency for the UNESCO city where perilous deluges have caused millions of euros worth of damage.

Churches, shops and homes in the city of canals have been inundated by unusually intense "acqua alta," or high waters, which on Tuesday hit their highest level in half a century.

The crisis, driven by bad weather, has prompted the government to release 20 million euros ($22 million) in funds to tackle the devastation.

The water was expected to reach 1.5 metrers (5 feet) mid-morning on Friday as strong storms and winds batter the region—lower than Tuesday's peak but still dangerous, local officials said.

Undeterred, tourists have been larking around in the flooded St Mark's Square in the sunshine during breaks from the rain, snapping selfies in neon plastic boots.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who has called the flooding "a blow to the heart of our country," said late Thursday that a state of emergency had been approved.

Earlier that day he met Venice's mayor and emergency services before jumping in a speed boat to visit businesses and locals affected by the tide.

Residents whose houses had been hit would immediately get up to 5,000 euros in government aid, while restaurant and shop owners could receive up to 20,000 euros and apply for more later, he said.

Several museums remained closed to the public on Thursday.

As authorities assessed the extent of the damage to Venice's cultural treasures, such as St Mark's Basilica where water invaded the crypt, locals were defiant.

Many stopped for their usual coffees at flooded bars, drinking espresso while standing in several inches of water.

Austrian tourist Cornelia Litschauer, 28, said she felt mixed emotions seeing Venice's famous square half-submerged.

"For the tourists it's amazing, it's something to see. But for the people who live here it's a real problem," Litschauer said, cradling her white Chihuahua Pablo.

"It's strange. Tourists are taking pictures but the city is suffering."

'Need to adapt' 

The Locanda Al Leon hotel said its bookings had suffered from the international media coverage of the flood, with some guests canceling their rooms after seeing images of Venice underwater.

Under the arches of the Ducal Palace, a couple from Hong Kong posed for photos in the chilly morning sun.

"This (trip) was planned a long time ago so we couldn't change it," groom Jay Wong, 34, said.

"Actually this is a good experience. It's an adventure."

Tuesday's high waters submerged around 80 percent of the city, officials said.

Only once since records began in 1923 has the water crept even higher, reaching 1.94 metrer in 1966.

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived for a private tour of the damage sustained to the basilica, while rival leader of the Italian right Matteo Salvini was due to drop by for the same on Friday.

French tourist Manon Gaudre, 22, said seeing Venice submerged was a "unique experience."

"The damage it's causing to monuments and the people is worrying," she said, wondering if climate change was to blame.

Many, including Venice's mayor, have blamed the disaster on global warming and warned that Italy—a country prone to natural disasters—must wake up to the risks posed by ever more volatile seasons.

"We need to be resilient and adapt. We need a policy that looks at the climate through completely different eyes," Environment Minister Sergio Costa said Thursday.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro has estimated the damage to Venice at hundreds of millions of euros.

The Serenissima, as the floating city is called, is home to a mere 50,000 residents but receives 36 million global visitors each year.

A massive infrastructure project has been under way since 2003 to protect the city, but it has been plagued by cost overruns, corruption scandals and delays.

The plan involves 78 gates that can be raised to protect Venice's lagoon during high tides—but a recent attempt to test part of it caused worrying vibrations and engineers discovered it had rusted.

source: philstar.com

Climate change, corruption blamed for Venice flood devastation

VENICE, Italy — Much of Venice was under water on Wednesday night after the highest tide in 50 years ripped through the historic Italian city, beaching gondolas, trashing hotels and sending tourists fleeing through rapidly rising waters.

The government in Rome was expected to declare a state of emergency at a cabinet meeting on Thursday after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described the flooding as "a blow to the heart of our country."

Officials blamed climate change while shopkeepers on the Grand Canal raged against those who have failed to protect the UNESCO city from the high tide.


They said corruption had repeatedly delayed a barrier protection system that could have prevented the disaster.

"The city is on its knees," Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro said in an interview with national broadcaster RAI.

"There's widespread devastation," he said in the famed St Mark's Square, which bore the brunt of the flooding. "In all likelihood the damage from last night runs into hundreds of millions of euros."

The state of emergency for a natural disaster will allow the government to use "exceptional powers and means" to intervene more quickly, and Conte said his government was ready to allocate funds.

"The disaster that has struck Venice is a blow to the heart of our country," Conte said at the scene. "It hurts to see the city so damaged, its artistic heritage threatened."


St Mark's Square was calm on Wednesday evening, with just a smattering of tourists walking through the relatively dry square marked with occasional puddles.

Four Venetian friends who had gathered in the square, all wearing boots, said the relative quiet and lack of tourists was upside of an otherwise harrowing few days.

"We've never seen anything like it," said Alvise, 19.

Earlier, tourists lugging heavy suitcases waded in thigh-high boots or barefoot through the submerged alleys, as gondola and water taxi drivers baled sewage-tainted water out of their trashed vessels.

'We can't live like this' 

Dirty water was swirling around the marble tombs inside the 12th-century crypt of St Mark's Basilica, which suffered untold damage when an unprecedented high tide swept through the city.

It was closed to tourists as were many other Venice highlights including the Fenice Theatre and the Ducal Palace.

"We said last year that the basilica had aged 20 years in a high tide. It risks having aged much more than that in this one," said the building's procurator Carlo Alberto Tesserin.

A 78-year old was killed by an electric shock as the waters poured into his home.

"We ask the government to help us, the costs will be high," mayor Brugnaro tweeted. "These are the effects of climate change."

"The future of Venice is at stake," he warned. "We cannot live like this anymore."

Environment Minister Sergio Costa blamed climate change and the "tropicalization" of violent rainfall and strong winds.

"This is what is happening more and more often in the Mediterranean," Costa said on Facebook.

"Global warming will destroy our planet if we do not immediately reverse the direction."

'Acqua alta' 

The exceptionally intense "acqua alta," or high waters, peaked at 1.87 meters (six feet). Only once since records began in 1923 has the water crept even higher, reaching 1.94 meters in 1966.

"It was unbelievable. The water rose so quickly," said resident Tiziano Collarin, 59, as he surveyed the damage.

"Windows were blown out, there are those who have lost everything," he said as the flood alarm rang out to warn those in the canal city that the tide, which had receded somewhat overnight, was rising once again.

The fire brigade said it had carried out over 400 operations as well as laying on extra boats as water ambulances.

Around 160 firefighters were deployed to rescue people stranded on jetties and to recover boats broken free from their moorings.

President of the Veneto region Luca Zaia said 80 percent of the city had been submerged, causing "unimaginable damage" to the city, which has 50,000 residents but receives 36 million visitors each year.

A massive infrastructure project called MOSE has been under way since 2003 to protect the city, but it has been plagued by cost overruns, corruption scandals and delays.

The plan involves 78 gates that can be raised to protect Venice's lagoon during high tides—but a recent attempt to test part of the barrier caused worrying vibrations and engineers discovered parts had rusted.

Outside historic Venice, the Lido and Pellestrina islands were also hard hit by flooding

source: philstar.com

PNoy puts typhoon death toll at 2,000 to 2,500

The death toll from Typhoon "Yolanda's" (international codename: Haiyan) rampage through the Philippines is closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated, President Benigno Aquino III said on Tuesday as US and British warships headed toward his nation to help with relief efforts.

"Ten thousand, I think, is too much," Aquino told CNN in an interview. "There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate."

Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, also dismissed the earlier toll, saying, “Walang katotohanan ‘yun (There's no truth to that).”

The original estimate was given by Police Regional Office 8 director Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria a day after  about the casualty figure.

“We had a meeting last night with the governor and, based on the government's estimates, initially there are 10,000 casualties (dead),” Soria said at the time, referring to the whole of Leyte.

Aquino said the government was still gathering information from various storm-struck areas and the death toll may rise.

"We're hoping to be able to contact something like 29 municipalities left wherein we still have to establish their numbers, especially for the missing, but so far 2,000, about 2,500, is the number we are working on as far as deaths are concerned," he said.

The NDRRMC, in its 7 a.m. Wednesday update, placed the number of fatalities so far at 1,833, with 84 missing and 2,623 injured.

“'Yung figures natin ng casualty ay nanggagaling sa local government units, ‘yun ay ini-report sa atin officially at ‘yun ang kinukuha natin. Kasi kapag kinuwenta natin lahat ‘yung inire-report on the ground, baka magkaroon ng double or triple counting at sumobra ‘yung ating ire-report (Our casualty figures come from the local government units, that's what they report officially and that's what we get. Because if we gather all the reports on the ground, we might have double or triple counting and the report will be bloated). So, we are only getting reports coming from LGUs,” del Rosario said, explaining the slow pace of the agency's reporting on casualties.

He cited reports of 2,000 missing in Samar compared to the NDRRMC's count only 82 but added that the conflicting figures would eventually be reconciled.



Philippine officials have been overwhelmed by Yolanda, one of the strongest typhoons on record, which tore through the central Philippines on Friday and flattened Tacloban, coastal capital of Leyte province where officials had feared 10,000 people died, many drowning in a tsunami-like wall of seawater.

But Del Rosario dismissed fears of a “governance breakdown” in disaster areas.

“Hindi naman masasabi nating breakdown of governance. Wala lang kakayahan ang LGUs na mag-deliver ng services dahil ang kanilang mga government workers at mga opisina nila pati communication lines ay nagbaksakan. At ‘yung mga governmet employees ay hindi makapagtrabaho kaya ang ginagawa natin ngayon nagpapadala tayo ng mga (We can't say there's a breakdown of governance. It's just that th LGUs have no capability to deliver services because their government workers and offices, including their communication lines, are down. And government employees cannot work so what we are doing is sending) national governemnt employees from the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, among others. Sila na ngayon ay nagpupunta sa mga lugar na nangangailangan ng tulong (They are the ones going to these places in need of help) from the national government,” he said.

Aquino revealed the lower estimated toll after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington set sail for the Philippines carrying about 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft to accelerate relief efforts. It was joined by four other US Navy ships and should arrive in two to three days, the Pentagon said.

"The weather is pretty bad out there, so we are limited by seas and wind," Captain Thomas Disy, commander of the USS Antietam, a missile cruiser that is part of the carrier group, said in Hong Kong. "But we are going to be going as fast as we possibly can."

Relief supplies poured into Tacloban along roads flanked with corpses and canyons of debris as the rain fell again. Rescue workers scrambled to reach other towns and villages still cut off, which could reveal the full extent of the casualties and devastation.

"There are hundreds of other towns and villages stretched over thousands of kilometers that were in the path of the typhoon and with which all communication has been cut," said Natasha Reyes, emergency coordinator in the Philippines at Médecins Sans Frontières.

"No one knows what the situation is like in these more rural and remote places, and it's going to be some time before we have a full picture."

She described the devastation as unprecedented for the Philippines, a disaster-prone archipelago of more than 7,000 islands that sees about 20 typhoons a year, likening the storm to "a massive earthquake followed by huge floods."

About 660,000 people have been displaced and many have no access to food, water or medicine, the United Nations said.

Britain is also sending a navy warship with equipment to make drinking water from seawater and a military transport aircraft. The HMS Daring left Singapore and expects to arrive in two or three days.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the development lender was considering boosting its conditional cash transfer program for the Philippines in the wake of the storm.

Corpse-choked wasteland

Aquino has declared a state of national calamity and deployed hundreds of soldiers in Tacloban, a once-vibrant port city of 220,000 that is now a wasteland without any sign of a government, as city and hospital workers focus on saving their families and securing food.

"Basically, the only branch of government that is working here is the military," Philippine Army Major Ruben Guinolbay told Reuters in Tacloban. "That is not good. We are not supposed to take over government."

Tacloban's government was wiped out by the storm, said Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas. Officials were dead, missing or too overcome with grief to work. Of the city's 293 police officers, only 20 had shown up for duty, he said.

"Today, we have stabilized the situation. There are no longer reports of looting. The food supply is coming in. Up to 50,000 food packs are coming in every day, with each pack able to feed up to a family of five for three days," he said.

Corazon Soliman, Secretary of the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development, said aid had reached a third of Tacloban's 45,000 families. Most of its stores remain closed - either destroyed or shut after widespread looting.

"Those that opened saw their goods wiped out of their shelves right away," Soliman said.

Chaos at airport

Two Philippine Air Force C-130 cargo planes landed at Tacloban airport early on Tuesday, but unloaded more soldiers than relief supplies. Among dozens of troops was a unit of Special Forces, underscoring concerns about civil disorder.

The Special Forces immediately deployed at the airport to hold back angry and desperate families waiting in heavy rain in the hope of boarding the planes returning to Manila.

"Get back! Get back in the building!" shouted air force officials through megaphones, gesturing the crowds back inside the wrecked terminal. Many had walked for hours from their destroyed homes, carrying meager possessions.

The sick, infants and the elderly were taken on board first. Pale-faced babies were passed over the crowd and carried on with several injured people. Many people wept and begged officials to let them on.

Residents told terrifying accounts of being swept away by a surge of water in city hopelessly unprepared for power of Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda.

Some stayed behind to protect their property, including Marivel Saraza, 39, who moved her six children farther inland before Haiyan struck, but stayed behind to look after her home only a stone's throw from the sea.

She ended up battling through chest-high water to reach higher ground, while the storm surge destroyed her two-storey concrete home.

"My house just dissolved in the water," she said.

Saraza now struggles to feed her children. The government gave her 2 kg (4.4 lb) of rice and a single can of sardines - barely enough for a family meal - so her husband foraged for fruit farther inland. But trees have been flattened by winds of 314 kph (195 mph) and rice fields inundated with salt water.

Relief efforts picking up

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the economic damage in the coconut- and rice-growing region would likely shave 1 percentage point off of economic growth in 2014.

"Fixation over numbers at this stage is not going to be useful," Purisima, the top finance ministry official, told reporters. "I was overwhelmed by the pictures, not the numbers."

The overall financial cost of the destruction was harder to assess. Initial estimates varied widely, with a report from German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis putting the total at $8 billion to $19 billion.

International relief efforts have begun to gather pace, with dozens of countries and organizations pledging tens of millions of dollars in aid. UN aid chief Valerie Amos, who has traveled to the Philippines, released $25 million for aid relief on Monday from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.

Rescuers have yet to reach remote parts of the coast, such as Guiuan, a town of 40,000 people in Eastern Samar province that was largely destroyed after Haiyan made its first landfall there.

"We don't need aerial surveys. It won't help the people of Guiuan," one resident posted on the Armed Forces Facebook page. "You've already done an aerial survey and you've seen the extent of the damage, seen the devastation that Yolanda brought... The people are desperate, hungry and feeling dejected. WE ARE CRYING FOR HELP!!!"

The typhoon also leveled Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about 10 km (6 miles) across a bay from Tacloban. About 2,000 people were missing in Basey, its governor said. (Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco and Karen Lema in Manila; Phil Stewart and Susan Heavey in Washington; Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Belinda Goldsmith in London and Greg Torode in Hong Kong)

source: interaksyon.com

No outside help has come to Samar - PDRRMC

MANILA - "Wala pa kaming outside aid na natatanggap."

That was the worried statement given by Samar Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) information officer Christine Caidic to InterAksyon.com.

So far, she said, only the provincial government of Samar has come to help the devastated towns of Basey and Marabut, which were also leveled by Super typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), suffering the same house-high waves that hit Tacloban City in Leyte.

"Depleted na rin po ang aming resources," Caidic said.

The two Samar towns are just across the narrow San Juanico Strait from Tacloban City. Next to Marabut is Eastern Samar. One has to pass through the towns of Balingaga, Giporlos, Quinapondan, and Salcedo before reaching Guiuan, where Yolanda made its first landfall on Friday.

The provincial government has been conducting clearing operations along the highways from its capital, Catbalogan, to Marabut and eventually to reach Guian.

No word yet has reached PDRRMC as to the actual number of casualties in Guiuan and nearby towns or to the progress the Department of Public Works and Highways have made in reaching the town, which is at the southern tip of the main Samar island.

No electricity, no banks

Caidic said the entire Region 8 still has no electricity and their province is already running low on fuel to be able to reach the devastated southern coastal towns.

She is also appealing for canned goods and other basic needs of survivors.

Other towns south of Catbalogan leading to Tacloban are not as heavily damaged but there are unconfirmed reports of deaths in the town of Sta. Rita, where the San Juanico Bridge starts.

"We have sent 10 teams to do needs assessment in other towns such as Pinabacdao, Yabong, and Paranas. But we will wait out this other typhoon [Zoraida] before we can send out teams in islands like Daram and Sumaraga, which are still unreachable until this time," Caidic said.

According to Louie Guillem of the Fire Volunteer Brigade of Catbalogan, residents of Sta. Rita, Villareal, San Sebastian, Calbiga, Paranas, and Motiong have been going to Catbalogan on foot since Monday to stock up on supplies since Tacloban trade has virtually shut down in the city.

"The problem is banks here are closed and people come here only to find out that they cannot withdraw money to buy basic necessities. Schools and offices are open here, why can't the banks open too?" he told InterAksyon.com.

Guillem's volunteer group was among those who went to Tacloban to give aid, especially water, but was later diverted to equally devastated towns of Basey and Marabut.

He said he was able to contact some friends in Ormoc, where mobile phone signal is spotty, and said Ormoc desperately needs help. Ormoc Villa Hotel is now serving as an evacuation center, where the owner is now staying.

"His mansion was also destroyed," Guillem said.

source: interaksyon.com

US Pinoys rally to aid kababayan post-'Yolanda'

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES -- Filipinos across the United States rallied to support aid efforts for their homeland on Monday as rescue workers an ocean away struggled to reach remote areas of the country that was ravaged by a deadly typhoon.

Many Filipino-Americans expressed appreciation for early efforts by the US government to respond to Typhoon Haiyan, which killed at least 10,000 people and left 600,000 homeless.

The US government provided immediate support that included 55 tons of food, $100,000 for water and sanitation support and the deployment of 90 Marines and sailors, but some Filipino-Americans expressed concerns that foreign aid could be diverted by corrupt local officials.

In the New York City borough of Queens, where many businesses along a 15-block thoroughfare dubbed "Little Manila" were planning charitable efforts for typhoon victims, the manager of Payag, a Filipino restaurant, said its weekly fundraisers for victims of last month's deadly earthquake in Central Visayas were being expanded to assist typhoon survivors.

"We started these events on November 1 not realizing soon after another calamity would occur," restaurant manager Peter Obac said. "So now it's for earthquake and typhoon victims."

Anne Beryl Corotan, a New York-based campaign coordinator for the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, said her organization was working to send advance teams to the hard-hit areas of Samar and Leyte.

Reflecting sentiments common in the Filipino-American community, Corotan applauded US government relief efforts but said she hoped American officials would closely monitor disbursement of the aid.

"I would like to ensure that my taxes are going to appropriate provision of social services and not for militarization, corruption and only to those who are powerful, landlords and big business owners," she said.

President Benigno Aquino III came to office on a good governance and anti-corruption platform, but corruption remains endemic in the Southeast Asia nation.

Food and medicine

Efforts among Filipino-Americans to assist with typhoon relief extended across the country.

In San Francisco, the West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center, a nonprofit that serves underprivileged Filipino youth, stayed open overnight on Sunday to accept donations of food and medicine for victims of the typhoon.

The center collected about 700 pounds of canned food and medical supplies, said executive director Rudy Asercion, a third generation Filipino-American.

Asercion said the supplies would be shipped this week to Cebu, where Catholic church-affiliated volunteers would distribute them to typhoon victims in hard-hit places like the city of Tacloban.

Maria Hellen Barber De La Vega, consul general for the Philippines in Los Angeles, said that church and volunteer-based relief efforts in southern California were well under way, including $10,000 raised over the weekend in part by a five-kilometer fundraising walk on Sunday.

But she said the needs in the affected areas of central Philippines were nearly overwhelming.

"Right now we need medicines for cold and fever, food and water, but we really need treatment for bones. Many were caught in trees and hurt by flying debris," she said. "The problem is access."

Efforts to help extended beyond the Filipino expatriate community.

At the US Conference of Catholic Bishops assembly in Baltimore on Monday, Bishop Gerald Kicanas, chairman of the board of directors of US-based Catholic Relief Services, urged his colleagues to take up a "second collection" from churches for relief efforts in the Philippines and Vietnam.

"We hope you can send those collections as soon as possible because the crisis is so imminent."

Also speaking at the assembly, CRS President Carolyn Woo said her group had pledged $20 million in typhoon aid that it has not yet raised.

"It's important for people to be buying supplies," she said, adding that her group hoped to help 100,000 affected families.

Philippines Airlines also lent a hand, saying in a statement that it was offering space on its planes to ship certain aid supplies to the country free of charge.

source: interaksyon.com

Philippines Inc mobilizes aid for 'Yolanda' victims

MANILA – As the devastation wrought by Typhoon 'Yolanda' comes to light, Philippines Inc. has set into motion its philanthropic arm, leveraging on its ability not only to provide immediate aid, but also to mobilize more support beyond the boardroom.

In separate statements, corporates such as SM, Citi, Jollibee, Del Monte Pacific and Harbor Star Shipping were among those that have launched relief efforts for the victims of the disaster that left an estimated 10,000 people dead.

The SM group is setting up a P100-million calamity fund for areas affected by the typhoon as well as the recent 7.2-magnitude earthquake, particularly Tacloban, Ormoc, Samar, Bohol, Cebu, Iloilo, Capiz, and Bicol.

The fund will focus on rebuilding homes, community centers, schools, and churches as well as providing immediate relief through food and supplies.

"SM Foundation is taking the lead in the relief effort with the nationwide reach of SM Cares of the mall group, SM Savemore, and BDO Foundation. Each group has a different expertise in the community support program, and will be working with community groups to expand the efforts and widen the reach of the relief operation," the group said.

“Operation Tulong Express” will be open for donations in SM malls, and an account in both BDO and China Bank will be open to accept cash donations.

Likewise, Citi Foundation has pledged a $250,000 disaster relief grant to the American Red Cross Pacific Typhoon Fund to support relief and recovery efforts in the communities affected by the typhoon.

Citi Philippines has established a special account to raise funds to go to the Philippine Red Cross, a member of the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to support the relief efforts and long-term rebuilding of the communities.

Donations may be sent to the following account:

Account Name: TYPHOON HAIYAN RELIEF FUND, US Dollar Account No: 1600125377, Peso Account No: 1400172923, Swift Code:  CITIPHMX, Routing Number:  021-0000-89 (CITINY), Address: Citibank, N.A. 8741 Paseo De Roxas Ave. Makati City, Philippines
Jollibee Foods Corp, through Jollibee Group Foundation, is also accepting donations for the victims through coin banks found in over 2,000 stores across the group’s portfolio of brands that include Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal and Burger King.

Jollibee is also accepting donations through these bank accounts:

PESO ACCOUNT: Metrobank – Cubao Araneta Branch, Account Name: Jollibee Group Foundation, Account Number: 473-7-47301401-3
DOLLAR ACCOUNT: BDO – Megamall Branch Account Name: Jollibee Foundation, Inc, Account Number: 100661267008, Swift Code: BNORPHMM
Tug boat operator Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc has also allowed the Philippine Coast Guard to use the company's 300-foot Barge Lynx in transporting relief goods and supplies as well as equipment to Tacloban and other affected areas for free.

Barge Lynx, one of the largest barges in the Philippines, can transport 8,000 metric tons of goods, or the equivalent weight of 150,000 sacks of rice.

Del Monte Pacific Co Ltd said it would reach out to the local government agencies in Leyte in "providing meaningful assistance” to the victims.

West Zone concessionaire Maynilad Water Services Inc is donating P1 million to the typhoon victims through the PLDT-Smart Foundation, as part of the Tulong Kapatid efforts of the MVP group of companies.

The group’s Alagang Kapatid Foundation last Sunday raised P21 million in less than two hours during a telethon.

The company will also send 12,000 units of one-liter bottles, 15,000 one-gallon jugs and 10,000 pieces of bottled water to various public and private organizations. It already deployed 3,000 one-liter bottles and 1,100 one-gallon jugs of water to Alagang Kapatid Foundation, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Navy.

In coordination with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Maynilad is also sending water engineers to Tacloban to provide technical assistance in getting the city’s water systems up and running. Water supply in these areas was disrupted because of widespread infrastructure damage.

“Typhoon Yolanda has inflicted unimaginable damage and losses to our countrymen in Visayas. We are committed to helping them recover and pick-up the pieces, in whatever way we can,” said Maynilad president Ricky P. Vargas.

“For those who also want to donate goods, they can drop off their in-kind donations in our Maynilad offices in Cavite, Muntinlupa, Parañaque and Quezon City,” Vargas added.

Aboitiz Foundation has raised P30 million, including P5 million pledged by mega star Sharon Cuneta and P25 million by Union Bank of the Philippines.

Cuneta said she is giving a total of P10 million, with the other P5 million coursed through the Alagang Kapatid Foundation. “This is how much I believe in you both. God bless Visayas,” she said.

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of the Aboitiz group earlier set up a command center in the Visayas after shipping relief packs and hygiene kits for 6,500 families in Northern Cebu.

The foundation said donations can be coursed through its UShare portal http://ushare.unionbankph.com/aboitiz/, and through the following bank accounts: Union Bank of the Philippines Account No. 10026-1070944 and City Savings Bank Account No. 200-20031301

Lastly, the San Miguel group has mobilized its business units for the relief efforts, with affiliate Philippine Airlines (PAL) committing to airlift relief goods for free.

Open to government agencies and duly-registered foundations and non-government organizations, the PAL Cargo Humanitarian Grant will transport the following necessities: medicines, medical supplies, powdered milk for infants, hygiene products; toiletries such as new underwear, and ready-to-eat products such as dried fish and dried fruits, which cannot be readily sourced in the affected areas.

The San Miguel Foundation also coordinated with the DSWD to donate thousands of boxes of relief goods, consisting of drinking water and canned meat products.

San Miguel Brewery Inc. is repacking additional relief goods, using its Mandaue Brewery in Cebu as a command center for relief operations and as drop-off point for donations.

Petron Corp meanwhile is tapping its 500 service stations nationwide as drop-off points for donations. The company also said it will establish temporary service stations to ensure reliable fuel supply at the right prices in order to help recovery, relief, and rehabilitation efforts.

source: interaksyon.com

UN to mount urgent appeal for millions of dollars in aid for Philippines

The United Nations on Tuesday will launch an urgent aid appeal expected to seek hundreds of millions of dollars to help the Philippines recover from the ravages of Typhoon “Yolanda” (international codename: Haiyan).

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos was headed for the Philippines to lead a "flash appeal" for cash, officials said, saying the scale of devastation was so far-reaching that a major emergency effort is needed.

The announcement came as the Pentagon said it had ordered an aircraft carrier, other ships and scores of aircraft that had been on a stop in Hong Kong to head to the stricken archipelago.

Ahead of the emergency appeal, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the aid already pledged but said contributions "must expand urgently in the days ahead," given the sheer damage wrought by Haiyan.

Britain is sending a ship and a transporter plane to assist with the relief effort following the typhoon, which may have killed more than 10,000 people in what is feared to be the worst natural disaster ever to hit the Philippines.

"The scale of devastation is massive and therefore it will require the mobilization of a massive response," John Ging, the UN's humanitarian operations director said, stressing the death toll was expected to rise.

"Many places are strewn with dead bodies," Ging told a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York. "We are certainly expecting the worst. As we get more and more access we find the tragedy of more and more people killed in this typhoon."

Vietnam, itself faced with mass evacuations as a weakened Haiyan swung through its territory Monday, offered aid worth $100,000 and vowed to stand by the Filipino people.

The relief operation was focused on the city of Tacloban on Leyte several days after one of the biggest storms in recorded history demolished entire communities across the central Philippines.

Delivering on a promise of assistance from President Barack Obama, about 180 US Marines were deployed to the Philippines on Monday to support local forces, carry out search and rescue work and help humanitarian efforts on the ground.

Britain's HMS Daring, a destroyer, will sail to the Philippines "at full speed" from its current deployment in Singapore, and will be joined by a Royal Air Force C-17 transport plane, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Britain will also boost its aid from £6 million ($9.6 million) to £10 million.

The Australian government pledged Aus$10 million ($9.38 million), with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop describing the unfolding tragedy as "absolutely devastating" and on a "massive scale."

The aid will include tarpaulins, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, water containers and health and hygiene kits. A team of Australian medics will leave on Wednesday via a C-17 military transport plane from Darwin to join disaster experts already on the ground, the government said.

Local rescue teams were said to be overwhelmed in their efforts to help those whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed after Yolanda ravaged large swathes of the country on Friday.

Officials were struggling to cope with the scale of death and destruction, with reports of violent looters and scarcity of food, drinking water and shelter.

The UN children's fund UNICEF said a cargo plane carrying 60 tons of aid including shelters and medicine would arrive in the Philippines Tuesday, to be followed by deliveries of water purification and sanitation equipment.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR was also organizing an airlift carrying aid including hygiene kits containing basics such as soap, blankets and underwear.

"The level of destruction we're seeing reported is absolutely staggering," said Antonio Guterres, head of UNHCR.

Other aid mobilized for the Philippines:

The European Commission said it would give three million euros ($4 million) toward relief efforts.
Germany's embassy in Manila said an initial shipment of 23 tons of aid was being flown in and German rescue teams were already at work.
Malaysia also readied a relief crew and cash aid was offered by Taiwan and Singapore.
New Zealand increased its humanitarian relief on Monday, bringing its total to NZ$2.15 million (US$1.78 million), while Canada has promised up to US$5 million to aid organizations.
Medical teams from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) now in the country.

On the other hand, the Canadian government called on its citizens to donate money towards aiding the Philippines, pledging to match these donations dollar-for-dollar.

MSF said a 15-man team that arrived in Cebu on November 9 is expected to be in Tacloban City on Wednesday with 50 more people -- medical personnel, logisticians and psychologists -- and 329 tons of medical and relief supplies arriving in the next few days.The first cargo plane left Dubai on Monday and a second will depart Belgium on Tuesday.

JICA, on the other hand, said 25 members of the Japan Disaster Relief Medical Team from Tokyo -- doctors, nurses, and other medical experts and personnel -- arrived in Manila on Monday and will be in Tacloban City on Wednesday.

“We join the collective efforts of the local and international community in reaching out to victims of typhoon Yolanda. We are working closely with the Department of Health to help address the health needs of the people affected by this tragedy,” JICA Philippines chief representative Takahiro Sasaki said in a statement.

“It is now Japan’s turn to return support to the Filipinos who helped the Japanese people affected during the Great East Japan Earthquake last March 11, 2011. We are confident that the Filipinos will rise above this challenge, and the recent typhoon will provide a perspective in strengthening disaster preparedness in the long-term,” he added.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Minister of International Development, Christian Paradis, said that, “for every eligible dollar donated by individual Canadians to registered Canadian charities in response to the crisis in the Philippines the government will donate an additional dollar -- effectively doubling their contribution.”

The announcement, made on November 9, is aside from Canada’s initial $30,000 allocation to the International Federation of the Red Cross to help launch relief operations.

Paradis also announced that Canada is giving “up to $5 million in support to humanitarian organizations.”

Canada is also deploying the Interdepartmental Strategic Support Team to assess needs on ground and identify potential response options, which could include the Disaster Assistance Response Team.

source: interaksyon.com

Yolanda survivors beg for help as rescuers struggle

TACLOBAN, Philippines - Dazed survivors begged for help and scavenged for food, water and medicine on Monday after Super Typhoon Yolanda (international code name: Haiyan) killed an estimated 10,000 in the central Philippines.

President Benigno Aquino III declared a state of national calamity and deployed hundreds of soldiers in the coastal city of Tacloban to quell looting.

"In the coming days, be assured: help will reach you faster and faster," he said in a televised address.

"My appeal to you all is: remaining calm, praying, cooperating with, and assisting one another are the things that will help us to rise from this calamity."

The huge scale of death and destruction from Friday's storm become clearer as reports emerged of thousands of people missing and images showed apocalyptic scenes in one town that has not been reached by rescue workers.

Philippine authorities have been overwhelmed, their efforts to quickly deliver aid hamstrung by the destruction of airports, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Many areas remained cut off from any relief efforts on Monday, leaving bodies to rot in the humid atmosphere and survivors little choice but to rummage through the debris for food, water and other essentials.

Even in Tacloban, the base for relief operations in Leyte, bodies remained littered through the streets and the stench of rotting flesh hung thick in the air.

The scale of the disaster continued to unfold as more remote areas were surveyed, with aerial photos of Samar island where Haiyan first made landfall showing whole districts of coastal towns reduced to piles of splintered wood.

One of the most powerful storms ever recorded, typhoon Haiyan leveled Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about 10 km (6 miles) across a bay from Tacloban in Leyte province, where at least 10,000 people were killed, according to officials.

About 2,000 people were missing in Basey, said the governor of Samar province.

"The situation is bad, the devastation has been significant. In some cases the devastation has been total," Secretary to the Cabinet Rene Almendras told a news conference.

The United Nations said officials in Tacloban, which bore the brunt of the storm on Friday, had reported one mass grave of 300-500 bodies. More than 600,000 people were displaced by the storm across the country and some have no access to food, water, or medicine, the UN says.

Haiyan's sustained winds when it hit Samar reached 315 kilometers (195 miles) an hour, making it the strongest typhoon in the world this year and one of the most powerful ever recorded.

Flattened by surging waves and monster winds up to 235 kph, Tacloban, 580 km (360 miles) southeast of Manila, was relying almost entirely for supplies and evacuation on just three military transport planes flying from nearby Cebu city.

Dozens of residents clamored for help at the airport gates.

Relief cannot come soon enough for Joan Lumbre-Wilson, 54, who was among a large crowd of people gathered around one of the few relief centers in Tacloban.

"We want an organized, coordinated brigade to collect the dead bodies, bring food and stop the looting," she said.

"It has been four days. We want water and food. We want someone who will help. We are emotionally drained and physically exhausted. There are many babies and children who need attention."

In a nationwide broadcast, Aquino said the government was focusing relief and assistance efforts on Samar and Leyte provinces, which acted as "funnels for the storm surges".

The declaration of a state of national calamity should quicken rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts.

It will also allow the government to use state funds for relief and rehabilitation and control prices. Aquino said the government had set aside 18.7 billion pesos ($432.97 million for rehabilitation.

US marines shocked at devastation

In Tacloban, dozens of American marines arrived on Monday afternoon aboard two US military C-130 transport planes packed with relief supplies, and expressed shock after receiving a bird's eye view of the carnage.

"Roads are impassable, trees are all down, posts are down, power is down... I am not sure what else is there. I am not sure how else to describe this destruction," Brigadier General Paul Kennedy, the commanding general of the Okinawa-based 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, told reporters.

The US troops were the most visible sign of a major international relief effort that had only just begun and could last for years, with some aid agencies likening the scale of the destruction to the 2010 Haiti earthquake that killed tens of thousands.

Blaming global warming for the typhoon's ferocity, a Philippine negotiator at UN climate talks in Warsaw pledged to fast until progress is made on tackling the environmental crisis.

"In solidarity with my countrymen who are struggling to find food back home and with my brother who has not had food for the last three days... I will now commence a voluntary fasting," envoy Naderev Sano said as the 12-day talks got underway.

Adding to concerns was a looming storm in the Pacific Ocean that threatened to dump heavy rain across Leyte and other devastated areas.

The depression is expected to hit land on the southern island of Mindanao late Tuesday, then move across the central islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay, which all suffered typhoon damage, weather forecaster Connie Dadivas told AFP.

Wall of water

Three days after the typhoon made landfall, residents of Tacloban told terrifying accounts of being swept away by a wall of water, revealing a city that had been hopelessly unprepared for a storm of Haiyan's almost unprecedented power.

Haiyan generated waves up to five meters (16 feet) high that surged inland like a tsunami, the walls of water destroying nearly everything in their path along huge stretches of coastlines throughout the central band of the archipelago.

Most of the damage and deaths were caused by waves that inundated towns, washed ships ashore and swept away villages in scenes reminiscent of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Jean Mae Amande, 22, said she was washed several kilometers from her home by the surge of water. The current ripped her out to sea before pushing her back to shore where she was able to cling to a tree and grab a rope thrown from a boat.

An old man who had been swimming with her died when his neck was gashed by an iron roof, she said.

"It's a miracle that the ship was there," Amande said.

Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, is estimated to have destroyed about 70 to 80 percent of structures in its path. The damage to the coconut- and rice-growing region was expected to amount to more than 3 billion pesos ($69 million), Citi Research said in a report, with "massive losses" for private property.

Bodies litter the streets of Tacloban, rotting and swelling under the sun. People walked covering their noses with rags or old clothes to mask the stench.

International aid agencies said relief resources in the largely Roman Catholic Philippines were stretched thin after a 7.2 magnitude quake in central Bohol province last month and displacement caused by a conflict with Muslim rebels in southern Zamboanga province.

Many foreign governments have pledged help, with Australia donating nearly US$10 million, while United Nations leader Ban Ki-moon promised UN humanitarian agencies would "respond rapidly to help people in need".

The United Nations Children's Fund sounded a loud alarm about the urgency of getting relief supplies into the disaster zones, with the organization estimating up to four million children could be affected.

Twenty-one countries pledged to send relief, including Indonesia, United States, Britain, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Hungary, Aquino said.

The Italian bishops conference pledged 3 million euros in emergency aid, adding to $150,000 given by Pope Francis and 100,000 euro by Catholic charity Caritas. On Sunday, Pope Francis led thousands in a silent prayer outside St. Peter's Basilica for the victims.

Tacloban's administration appeared to be in disarray as city and hospital workers focused on saving their own families and securing food.

Operations were further hampered because roads, airports and bridges had been destroyed or were covered in wreckage.

Exasperation

Awelina Hadloc, 28, the owner of a convenience store, foraged for instant noodles at a warehouse that was almost bare from looting. She said her store had been washed away by a 3-meter (10-foot) storm surge.

"It is so difficult. It is like we are starting again," said Hadloc. "There are no more supplies in the warehouse and the malls."

Aquino, facing one of the biggest challenges of his three-year rule, deployed 800 soldiers and police to restore order in Tacloban after looters rampaged through several stores.

Aquino, who before the storm said the government was aiming for zero casualties, has shown exasperation at conflicting reports on damage and deaths. One TV network quoted him as telling the head of the disaster agency that he was running out of patience.

The official death toll is likely to climb rapidly once rescuers reach remote parts of the coast, such as Guiuan, a town in eastern Samar province with a population of 40,000 that was largely destroyed.

"The only reason why we have no reports of casualties up to now is that communications systems ... are down," said Colonel John Sanchez, posting on the Armed Forces Facebook page.

About 400 people were confirmed dead in Samar province, according to provincial governor Sharee Ann Tan. Baco, a city of 35,000 in Oriental Mindoro province, was 80 percent under water, the United Nations said.

US aid groups also launched a multimillion-dollar relief campaign. An official from one group, World Vision, said there were early reports that as much as 90 percent of northern Cebu had been destroyed. An aid team from Oxfam reported "utter destruction" in the northern-most tip of Cebu.

Security forces deployed to contain looters

Meanwhile, hundreds of Filipino police and soldiers were deployed to contain looters in and around Tacloban, after mobs ransacked a Red Cross aid convoy on Sunday and gangs roamed the streets stealing consumer goods such as televisions.

"We have sent substantial (forces) there and if we need to add some more, it won't be just the police but even the armed forces," civil defense office spokesman Reynaldo Balido said on ABS-CBN.

Haiyan swept out into the South China Sea on Saturday and hit Vietnam and China on Monday in a significantly weakened state, although still strong enough to uproot trees and tear roofs off hundreds of homes.

Thirteen people were killed and dozens hurt during heavy winds and storms in Vietnam as Haiyan approached the coast, state media reported, even though it had weakened substantially after hitting the Philippines.

Six people were reported dead in China.

The Philippines endures a seemingly never-ending pattern of deadly typhoons, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and other natural disasters.

But if the death toll of more than 10,000 is correct, Haiyan would be the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded in the country, exceeding the 1976 Moro Gulf tsunami that killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people. ($1 = 43.1900 Philippine pesos)

(Additional Reuters reports from Rosemarie Francisco and Karen Lema in Manila, Ho Binh Minh in Hanoi and Phil Stewart and Charles Abbott in Washington)

source: interaksyon.com