Guiuan - the town washed away by the wave

„For a while it was impossible to get through.  This was the first town on land to have been directly hit by Typhoon Haiyan.  And unlike the City of Tacloban, Guiuan has attracted little media interest.  The tidal wave destroyed large areas and its effects can be likened to those of a tsunami,“ says Petr Štefan from People in Need.  „When I returned home after the typhoon, I could not believe my eyes and I was very sad.  We are used to typhoons here but only this one managed to destroy our house,“ says 30-year old Phillip Pagatpatan from Guiuan standing in front of the ruins of his former home.

Water and electricity supplies have not been reconnected yet, but some help has started to get through.  The airport was re-opened yesterday and the town can be reached by land again.  According to figures made available to the People in Need team by the Mayor of Guiuan, some 13 and a half thousand households have been affected, this means almost 95 percent of the local population. „People have started rebuilding their houses, but there is a shortage of food.  Local people earn their living as fishermen and now they have lost the source of both food and income,“ Štefan describes the situation.  Early next week People in Need will organize work for several hundred of the locals.  „People will be employed in clearing away the rubble and we will pay them a small wage.  Tomorrow we have a meeting scheduled with leaders of the local communities.  People will be able to earn something and through making purchases will help the local economy,“ explains Štefan.

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The vital aid is reaching the more remote areas

On the island of Bantayan, where our team has distributed five tons of rice and food parcels, People in Need also plans to assist with rebuilding work.  Last Friday our workers bought packages containing provisional shelters to house some 1000 families, these will be distributed on Bantayan and on the northernmost tip of Cebu Island.  Before the weekend, together with our partner organization ACTED from the Alliance2015, we distributed 330 hygiene packages containing water-purifying tablets and 20 liter water containers in the village of Diit near Tacloban.

The actual number of people who have been evacuated, according to official figures released by the Philippines Department of Social Welfare and Development, reached 4.29 million and some have now started returning to their, on the main part completely destroyed, homes.  The main roads are cleared, according to the bulletin issued on Friday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and help is now reaching even the more remote areas.  Over 2.5 million people have received food aid and ten thousand household have been provided with materials to build provisional shelters.  There are 130 medical teams operating in the affected areas.

The bulletin does, however, add that life-saving activities are still necessary even now three weeks after the disaster.  There are still shortages of food, drinking water and shelter, without these especially children and the elderly are more likely to succumb to disease once the monsoon season starts.  Most hospitals report a shortage of medical supplies.  According to information released by the Filipino government on Friday, the death toll has reached 5,2 thousand and a further 1,611 persons are still missing.  The newest figures speak of 13,26 million people affected, 4,29 million evacuated and 1,1 dwellings destroyed, this constitutes one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the Philippines.

Amount Collected on SOS Filipíny account

The SOS Filipíny Appeal has by the weekend collected 12,2 million CZK.  A further 2 million will be added over the next few days by three significant donors: the Vodafone Foundation will send 500 000 CZK and has furthermore pledged to double the amount sent in by its clients via donor text messages.   Another 500 000 CZK has been promised by the Avast Foundation.  The Prague Municipality has decided to donate 1 million CZK.  When launching this appeal People in Need released 500 000 CZK from the Humanitarian Fund of the Friends of People in Need.  Altogether we hope to have some 14,4 million CZK at our disposal.

For more information, please contact:

Petr Štefan (in the Philippines), PIN Media Coordinator 

+639082365239, petr.stefan@clovekvtisni.cz

Marek Štys (Czech Republic, Philippines as of Monday), Head of Humanitarian Programmes PIN

777 053 522, Marek.Stys@clovekvtisni.cz