Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson appeals for aid for 500,000 'Yolanda' survivors

Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson spoke in behalf of humanitarian non-profit Oxfam and appealed for donations to help some half a million survivors of the super typhoon Yolanda.

source: interaksyon.com

Japan medics bring high-tech fixes to Philippines typhoon

TACLOBAN — Japanese medics working to help victims of the Philippines typhoon have deployed wireless mobile X-ray kits using tablet computers, a world first in a disaster zone, a team spokesman said Saturday.

The technology, which was developed after the huge tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, allows doctors to take a look inside patients instantly, and even lets them enlarge the image with familiar iPad gestures.

Joji Tomioka, coordinator of the Japan Medical Team for Disaster Relief, said the system had been created in response to what doctors needed in the aftermath of the Japanese disaster.

“This is the first time that we are deploying it in a disaster situation,” Tomioka told AFP at a modern tent medical clinic put up by the Japanese government to help victims of typhoon Haiyan, which crashed through the central Philippines more than a week ago.

At the partly air-conditioned clinic in the ruined city of Tacloban on Leyte island, a radiologist placed a camera on the chest of 72-year-old Carlos Llosa as he sat in his wheelchair.

The X-ray image was instantaneously transmitted through a wireless router to an iPad and to a nearby laptop.

With a thumb and a finger, the doctor was able to zoom in for a more detailed view of the problem area.

“It looks like he has tuberculosis,” Tomioka said after looking at the image as the patient was wheeled out.

Japan’s 26-strong medical team includes doctors, nurses, pharmacists, cardiologists and medical technicians. The outfit is able to provide medicine and carry out minor surgery.

Tomioka said Japanese medical experts are seeing about 200 patients a day as part of a large international aid effort to reach the estimated 13 million people affected by one of the most powerful storms ever recorded.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in the Philippines says 3,633 people are now reported to have died when the ferocious storm hit.

The United Nations said Saturday that 2.5 million people still “urgently” need food.

“The Philippines helped us during our hour of need in the tsunami,” Tomioka said, referring to the global outpouring of sympathy in the aftermath of a catastrophe that cost 18,000 lives.

“Now it’s our turn to give back.”

Japan said Friday it was tripling its emergency aid package for the Philippines to more than $30 million, and was sending up to 1,000 troops to help with relief efforts.

It is expected to be the first time that Japanese troops are active in Leyte since the island turned into one of the biggest battlegrounds of World War II, when US forces counter-invaded in 1944.

Tacloban was the first Philippine city to be liberated from Japan’s occupying forces.

source: interaksyon.com

Fil-Am ‘Glee’ star Darren Criss asks fans to donate to Yolanda victims

“Glee” star Darren Criss took to Twitter (@DarrenCriss) Friday to urge fans to donate to the victims of supertyphoon Yolanda, which wrought destruction in Eastern Visayas a week ago.

He asked that they give at least $25 to the United Nations World Food Programme, which will help fund emergency meals for the survivors of the disaster.

Donors can then take a photo of their transaction, e-mail it to dcnotalone@gmail.com, and in return, Criss will send them an autographed postcard that says “You’re not alone”. All the donors’ names will also be printed on the same.

In a post on his website, he said his mother and most of his family hail from the Philippines, specifically Cebu. “…As a result I have always been proud of my Filipino heritage, as well as lucky enough to feel the tremendous support of the Filipino community throughout my life as an artist,” he wrote.

Criss, who plays the openly gay student Blaine Anderson on the musical show, thanked those who made their concern about his family back in the Philippines known, and conveyed at the same time his solidarity with the victims of the calamity.

He added that he hoped people would pass on his plea for donations, saying, “People are in need now.” He encouraged them to send their donations by Monday, November 18.

As of early afternoon Friday, Manila time, more than 150 have donated — less than an hour after his post.

Criss is quite close to Lea Salonga. In 2011, the two performed Aladdin’s “A Whole New World” on stage at the Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film and TV Music Conference in Los Angeles. This week they were at a New York piano bar together, where they also performed a few songs.

source: interaksyon.com

CNN's Cooper takes on Korina as netizens weigh in

MANILA, Philippines -- After ABS-CBN anchor Korina Sanchez twitted him for supposedly not knowing what he was talking about when he reported on the inadequate government response five days after super typhoon “Yolanda” struck Tacloban, CNN’s Anderson Cooper took to his show, "AC 360°" Friday morning in Manila to respond.

Social media wasted no time weighing in, with Sanchez apparently faring worse as netizens noted that she was in an air-conditioned booth as she criticized Anderson, who was on the ground in Tacloban.

On Friday, Cooper tackled the issue head-on, saying: "Miss Sanchez is welcome to go there," and suggesting that, since her husband, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II is in charge of government efforts in Tacloban, he might arrange a flight for her.





Sanchez actually went to Ormoc, on the opposite side of Leyte from Tacloban, on Thursday.

Cooper also clarified that he had never said there was no government presence or leadership on the ground.

At the same time, Cooper said that his reports were also a tribute to the strength of the Filipinos caught by Yolanda’s path.

"Filipino people, the people of Tacloban, and Samar, and Cebu, and all these places where so many have died, they are strong not just to have survived this storm, but they are strong to have survived the aftermath of this storm," he said. "They have survived for a week now, often with very little food, with very little water, with very little medical attention. Can you imagine the strength it takes to be living in a shack, to be living, sleeping on the streets next to the body of your dead children?"

Like they did earlier, netizens quickly jumped into the fray, with many praising and thanking Cooper for his coverage and others defending Sanchez who, they said, only intended to stress that government has been acting to respond to the disaster.

But even more called for an end to the bickering and for everyone to focus on helping the victims instead.

storify.com/interaksyon/netizens-still-riled-up-over-korina-sanchez-but-so?utm_source=embed_header

source: interaksyon.com

US aircraft carrier starts storm relief as Aquino comes under pressure

TACLOBAN, Philippines - A US aircraft carrier "strike group" started unloading food and water to the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines on Thursday, as President Benigno Aquino III faced mounting pressure to speed up the distribution of supplies.

While relief efforts picked up, local authorities began burying the dead - an important, if grim, milestone for a city shredded by one of the world's most powerful typhoons and the tsunami-like wall of seawater believed to have killed thousands.

Many petrol station owners whose businesses were spared have refused to reopen, leaving little fuel for trucks needed to move supplies and medical teams around the devastated areas nearly a week after Super Typhoon Yolanda (international code name: Haiyan) struck.

"I cannot use a truck to collect cadavers in the morning and then use it to distribute relief goods in the afternoon," said Alfred Romualdez, mayor of Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people reduced to rubble in worst-hit Leyte province.

"The choice is to use the same truck either to distribute food or collect bodies."

The Philippine coastguard on Thursday confirmed the death of a 69-year-old Dutch tourist, whose body was found on Monday near the western Philippine island of Palawan.

The nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier and accompanying ships arrived off wind-swept eastern Samar province, carrying 5,000 crew and more than 80 aircraft, after what strike force commander Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery called a "high-speed transit" from Hong Kong.

It is moored near where US General Douglas MacArthur's force of 174,000 men landed on October 20, 1944, in one of the biggest allied victories of World War Two.

"Operation Damayan" started with the George Washington and two cruisers taking up position off Samar to assess damage and provide logistical and emergency support such as fresh water.

Ships carried 11 pallets ashore - eight containing 1,920 gallons of water and three containing food - at Tacloban airfield. Several pallets of water were taken to Guiuan, Eastern Samar, home to 45,000 people, which was also badly hit by the storm when it made its first landfall there.

The carrier moved some fixed-wing aircraft ashore to make more room for the helicopters on the flight deck.

"One of the best capabilities the strike group brings is our 21 helicopters," Montgomery said in a statement. "These helicopters represent a good deal of lift to move emergency supplies around."

US President Barack Obama urged Americans to donate generously to their former Asian colony.

Relief channels slowly opening up

US officials said relief channels were slowly opening up with the reopening of a main road.

Ships and planes from Asia-Pacific nations and Europe are also converging on the Philippines, bearing food, water, medical supplies, tents and other essentials to a population in dire need of the basics of life.

Britain also said it would send a helicopter carrier, HMS Illustrious, to help in the relief effort.

Prime Minister David Cameron dispatched the biggest vessel in Britain's own fleet while heavy transport planes carrying equipment such as forklift trucks have already arrived.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a coordinating body for British aid charities, said it had raised 23 million pounds ($37 million) in the first 48 hours of launching an appeal for the Philippines.

"The public's reaction to the sheer devastation that has been left by Typhoon Haiyan is quite simply remarkable. We are so grateful for the huge amount of donations which are vital to fund the work done by our emergency teams," DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said.

Japan was also planning to send up to 1,000 troops as well as naval vessels and aircraft, in what could be Tokyo's biggest postwar military deployment.

But on the ground, the meager aid that was getting through was still inadequate, with distribution hampered by fears of armed looters and by broken infrastructure.

Sick or injured people lie helplessly among the ruins of buildings, while those with the energy try to leave a place that resembles hell.

Efren Nagrama, area manager at the civil aviation authority, said conditions were "very dire now" as he surveyed the filthy stream of humanity at Tacloban's battered airport clamoring to get a flight out.

"You see hundreds coming to the compound every day. People who have walked for days without eating, only to arrive here and be made to wait for hours or days under the elements," he said.

"People are pushed to the tipping point -- they see relief planes but cannot get to the food nor get a ride out. There is chaos."

Mass burials

Almost a week after Haiyan swept through the country's central islands, desperation was still apparent and many of the dead remained unburied.

Outside Taclaban, burials began for about 300 bodies in a mass grave on Thursday. A larger grave will be dug for 1,000, city administrator Tecson John Lim told Reuters.

Around 110 corpses were interred in a mass grave Thursday before heavy-digging machinery broke down, said Mayor Romualdez.

They were placed at the bottom of a huge pit that is expected to be several layers deep by the time it is covered over with earth.

"There are still so many cadavers in so many areas. It's scary," Romualdez said, adding that retrieval teams were struggling to cope.

"There would be a request from one community to collect five or 10 bodies and when we get there, there are 40," he said, describing aid agencies' response to the crisis as too slow.

Romualdez said the people of Tacloban needed an "overwhelming response" from aid organizations and the government.

"We need more manpower and more equipment," Romualdez pleaded. "A six-day-old body is quite heavy. You would need three or four people to carry it.

"Let's get the bodies out of the streets. They are creating an atmosphere of fear and depression."

City officials estimate that they have collected 2,000 bodies but insist many more need to be retrieved. The UN fears that 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban city alone, but President Aquino has described that figure as "too much".

While the retrieval of the dead gets going, there are growing fears for the health of those who survived.

The World Health Organization says there are significant injuries that need to be dealt with -- open wounds that can easily become infected in the sweltering tropical heat.

Experts warn that a reliable supply of clean drinking water is vital if survivors are not to fall victim to diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and death, especially in small children.

The city government remains paralyzed, with an average of just 70 workers compared to 2,500 normally, he added. Many were killed, injured, lost family or were simply too overcome with grief to work.

The government was distributing 50,000 "food packs" containing 6 kg (13 lb) of rice and canned goods each day, but that covers just 3 percent of the 1.73 million families affected by the typhoon.

Aquino in spotlight

Aquino has been on the defensive over his handling of the storm given warnings of its projected strength and the risk of a storm surge, and now the pace of relief efforts.

He has said the death toll might have been higher had it not been for the evacuation of people and the readying of relief supplies, but survivors from worst-affected areas say they had little warning of a tsunami-like wall of water.

Aquino has also stoked debate over the extent of the casualties, citing a much lower death toll than the 10,000 estimated by local authorities. Official confirmed deaths stood at 2,357 on Thursday, a figure aid workers expect to rise.

City administrator Lim, who on Sunday estimated 10,000 likely died in Tacloban alone, said Aquino may be deliberately downplaying casualties.

"Of course he doesn't want to create too much panic. Perhaps he is grappling with whether he wants to reduce the panic so that life goes on," he said.

The preliminary number of missing as of Thursday, according to the Red Cross, remained at 22,000. It has cautioned that that number could include people who have since been located.

Tacloban's main convention center, the Astrodome, has become temporary home for hundreds of people living in abject squalor. Families cooked meals amid the stench of garbage and urine. Debris was strewn along rows of seats rising from dark pools of stagnant water.

"We went into the Astrodome and asked who is in charge and just got blank stares," said Joe Lowry, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which is setting up camps for the displaced.

Survivors formed long queues under searing sunshine, and then torrential rain, to charge mobile phones from the only power source available: a city hall generator. Others started to repair motorbikes and homes. A rescue worker cleared debris near a wall with the spray-painted words "We need food".

More the 544,600 people have been displaced and nearly 12 percent of the population affected, the United Nations said. But many areas still have not received aid.

"It's true, there are still areas that we have not been able to get to where people are in desperate need," UN humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos, who had visited the shattered city of Tacloban on Wednesday, told reporters in Manila. "I very much hope that in the next 48 hours, that will change significantly.

"Yes, I do feel that we have let people down because we have not been able to get in more quickly.

"Those who have been able to leave have done so. Many more are trying. People are extremely desperate for help," she said.

"We need to get assistance to them now. They are already saying it has taken too long to arrive. Ensuring a faster delivery is our... immediate priority."

The world body's leader Ban Ki-moon, currently in Latvia, later added UN agencies and teams "are on the ground to provide the necessary humanitarian assistance".

"Especially in the southern part there are tens of thousands of people exposed to the elements. We are doing everything possible to rush assistance to those who need it."

Anger and frustration

Anger and frustration have been boiling over as essential supplies fail to reach many of those in need. Food and other goods have stacked up at the airport in Tacloban, for instance.

Some areas have appeared to teeter near anarchy amid widespread looting of shops and warehouses for food and water.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) described a bleak situation in Guiuan.

"People are living out in the open ... The needs are immense and there are a lot of surrounding villages that are not yet covered by any aid organizations," Alexis Moens, MSF's assessment team leader, said in a statement.

Lim said 90 percent of Tacloban had been destroyed by the typhoon and the wall of seawater it shoved ashore. Only 20 percent of residents were getting aid while houses were being looted because warehouses were empty, he added.

There were also not enough flights from Tacloban airport to cope with the exodus from the stricken city.

Many people complained that military families were given priority to board the C-130 cargo planes.

"If you have a friend or relative in the military, you get priority," said Violeta Duzar, 57, who had waited at the airport since Sunday with eight family members, including children.

The overall financial cost of the destruction was hard 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. (Additional Reuters reports from Rosemarie Francisco and Eric dela Cruz in Manila, Phil Stewart in Washington and Greg Torode in Hong Kong)

source: interaksyon.com

DOH orders price freeze on 200 essential medicines for Yolanda victims

MANILA, Philippines - Health Secretary Enrique Ona has ordered a price freeze on about 200 essential medicines nationwide to ensure the availability of supplies for the victims of super typhoon Yolanda (international code name: Haiyan).

The price freeze takes effect immediately and covers all public and private drug outlets, including hospital pharmacies.

Ona has encouraged consumers to lodge their complaints against any violation, as he warned drug manufacturers, traders and retailers to strictly implement the order.

He said a price freeze “means that suppliers, pharmacies and hospitals should not unduly hike the prices of essential drugs from their prevailing prices before the occurrence of the calamity.”

“Securing the health and safety of the typhoon victims is an immediate priority of the DOH (Department of Health).  We have to make sure that they have access to the medicines that they need and that public hospitals and government agencies are able to source affordable drugs to reach as many of our countrymen severely affected by this crisis,” he said.

The essential drugs are for physical and mental trauma and injury, diarrhea, pneumonia, skin diseases and other infections such as leptospirosis and other endemic diseases in affected areas.

Other essential drugs covered by the price freeze include those that address common chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and asthma that are “likely to be aggravated by the anxiety and stress as well as the difficult conditions faced on a daily basis by the victims”

The DOH fears an increase in many diseases due to the lack of clean water and food; breakdown in water and sanitation facilities; the severe state of primary health facilities and the continued harsh conditions in the Yolanda-affected areas.

The Price Act (Republic Act 7581) mandates the DOH to “automatically freeze the prices of essential drugs classified as basic commodities or impose maximum price ceilings particularly in times of calamities to protect consumers from profiteering, hoarding, cartels and other such violations by traders who may take advantage of the calamity situation.”

Ona has tasked all DOH regional directors to monitor the prices of essential drugs and make sure there is no overpricing especially in calamity-stricken areas.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama urges Americans to chip in for 'Yolanda' survivors

WASHINGTON -- US President Barack Obama on Wednesday encouraged Americans to donate money to support aid for survivors of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan), which ripped through the Philippines, destroying life, property and infrastructure.

Obama bemoaned the "awful destruction" of the typhoon, one of the most powerful on record, and directed Americans to the White House website where they could link up with aid organizations working to alleviate the suffering.

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people of the Philippines as they mourn so many loved ones and neighbors lost in the awful destruction of Typhoon Haiyan," Obama said.

"The friendship between our two countries runs deep, and when our friends are in trouble, America helps," Obama said in a statement. "With so many families and communities in the Philippines in urgent need of food, water, shelter and medicine, even small contributions can make a big difference and help save lives."

US officials meanwhile voiced optimism that American assets, including cargo planes and versatile Osprey aircraft, would help bring help to victims still cut off by the storm.

The USS George Washington carrier and other Navy ships are steaming towards the ally and Washington has committed $20 million, roughly half for food and the rest to prevent diseases in the wake of the Typhoon.

"I would say we are cautiously optimistic that we are starting to turn a corner on some of the logistics challenges," a US official told reporters on a conference call.

The Philippines faced a daunting task after the typhoon struck last week, with supplies piling up at the small airport in the flattened city of Tacloban.

The official said relief workers were now able to get more aid out of the airport and that the opening of a land route has provided a significant boost by connecting to a port.

"We are cautiously optimistic that that will be a pretty significant game-changer," he said.

The initial effort was "a lot like trying to squeeze an orange through a straw. We are now getting more straws, if you will, and bigger straws," he said.

Another US official said "over 1,000" American troops could be on the ground by the end of the week, up from around 300.

The US Marines Corps said four MV-22 Ospreys have left the US Futenma base in Japan, expanding the number of Osprey aircraft involved in the emergency work to eight.

The Osprey can land and take off like a helicopter but fly at the speed of an airplane, covering four times the distance of a traditional chopper.

Eight MC-130 cargo aircraft, a variant of the Hercules plane, also were deployed to reinforce the relief operation for victims of Typhoon Haiyan, increasing the fleet of cargo planes to 12 to help with deliveries of food, water and other emergency items.

As of Tuesday, a team of US Marines already on the ground has delivered 129,000 pounds (nearly 60 metric tons) of relief supplies for the effort dubbed "Operation Damayan," or "Help in Time of Need."

The USS George Washington escorted by two cruisers and a destroyer comes with 11 helicopters as well as dozens of planes and the capacity to desalinate large volumes of water.

Another American destroyer and a supply ship were en route to the disaster zone and two amphibious ships, the USS Germantown and the USS Ashland, set off Tuesday from the port of Sasebo in southern Japan.

The Germantown and the Ashland are equipped with landing craft and amphibious vehicles, medical facilities and desalination systems.

Another amphibious ship, the USS Denver, remains on standby in Sasebo for deployment, a Navy official said.

According to UN estimates, 10,000 people may have died in the typhoon and nearly 10 million people -- or 10 percent of the Philippines' population -- have been affected.

source: interaksyon.com

Donations tax-free, but BIR asks aid givers to touch base with NDRRMC, DSWD-accredited agencies

MANILA – No tax or duty is being imposed on donations coming in for areas hit by super typhoon Yolanda, but the Bureau of Internal Revenue is advising all donors to coordinate with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) or the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to ensure the tax-free status, allow the government to track and acknowledge all donations, and guarantee they go only to victims.

BIR chief Kim Jacinto-Henares made this clear Thursday as a flood of donations from at least 36 countries and international organizations led by the UN have come in the past several days, along with spontaneous acts of mercy by private volunteer groups, companies and concerned Filipinos from abroad.

The government, said Henares, will shoulder the 12-percent value-added tax by way of a tax expenditure, so it’s important, especially for major donor initiatives, to coordinate with the relief agencies accredited with DSWD or the NDRRMC.

“Please coordinate with DSWD about the VAT because they have a mechanism to address that… The donation to NDRRMC is also duty exempt; if there’s going to be any VAT, it’s going to be supported via the GAA, it’s going to be paid for by the national government via tax expenditure fund.”

She added, “There’s really no tax because it’s going to be shouldered by the government by budget support by as long as the donation is made to NDRRMC. Now, for donations made to accredited relief agencies of DSWD…It’s the same—it’s duty exempt . . .They should coordinate with DSWD so the VAT can properly be answered for.”

Asked if government is keeping track of the donations, she replied, “yes, that’s why they have to go through customs. We keep track of it and make sure it’s a legitimate donation. Unfortunately, there are some people . . . I mean, as far as we are concerned, everyone is in the mode of helping people but unfortunately, as you can see from experience in Tacloban, there are people who take advantage of the misery of other people."

Smugglers, keep out

Henares added: "So what we want to do is provide assistance to those who need it and really give the benefit [tax breaks] of all these things to those people who are really helping, and not to the people who are lawless like smugglers. Because we know there are people who will take advantage of it. Although that should be our real concern at this time, but…. although everyone is paying attention to the people affected directly, if we [BIR, finance agencies] do not also manage this, it will affect the other farmers, other entities [that] need protection from the government."

She said "The system has to be put in place and customs people and DOF people have put a one-stop shop in the ports where DSWD and NDRRMC are. From what I understand we have been doing this every time. It’s been going on smoothly as far as DSWD is concerned. Of course, there are some people who encounter difficulty because they have never done this. Some people who will just suddenly bring in things without coordinating with others, [and of course, problems are bound to arise]. They should coordinate with DSWD and NDRRMC.

Considering this is the biggest logistical and humanitarian challenge for disaster-prone Philippines, Henares said the avalanche of aid is understandable. This is why, she stressed, all those who help should be acknowledged and their task facilitated. “We have to keep track and eventually say thank you. We have to acknowledge aid coming in. If we don’t keep track, how do we acknowledge; when people say they provided aid, we want to say show them it really went to people. So we want to keep track to make sure aid being brought to us is not wasted.”

source: interaksyon.com

JLo, Rihanna, other previous Manila visitors tweet love, support for Yolanda victims

International celebrities who have visited the Philippines recently or in the not-too-distant past have expressed their concern for the victims of killer typhoon in Yolanda on Twitter.

These include graphic novelist Neil Gaiman, basketball superstars Kobe Bryant and Jeremy Lin, rockers Slash and The Fray and R&B and dance divas Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys and “American Idol” Filipino-American sensation Jessica Sanchez.

source: interaksyon.com

iTunes now accepts donations for Yolanda victims

MANILA, Philippines — Financial donations for victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) can now be coursed through iTunes.

Apple said in a statement that the donation may be made using an iTunes account and will be directly transferred to the relief of the American Red Cross for the typhoon victims. Transfers can be made in tranches of $5 to $200.

As Apple does not share information regarding the personal details of its iTunes users with the American Red Cross, the donation will be acknowledged by an email receipt from the iTunes store.

The donation will also appear on the credit card statement as a transaction with the iTunes store.

source: interaksyon.com