MANILA, Philippines – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mobilizing resources to respond to the emergency crisis brought about by Super Typhoon Haiyan.Together with the UN Humanitarian Country Team in the Philippines, UNHCR will support and assist the Government in response to this latest typhoon.
“Unlike Pablo, where the devastation was on compact mass of land, the geographical spread of this typhoon stretches from Eastern Samar all the way to Busuanga, Palawan. This means that the government has an incredible logistical task to reach huge section of population at various points of delivery”, said UNHCR Representative Bernard Kerblat.
With 9.8 million Filipinos affected by the typhoon in a country still reeling from armed conflict, flash floods, a high intensity earthquake, the needs have become loftier and tasks more daunting. Out of this affected population, 800,000 individuals are displaced and could get higher as assessment reports come in. “We are running an estimate of people directly hit by typhoon between 11.4- 12.5 million people, out of that, 800,000-1 million people displaced. And that is a conservative estimate.” Kerblat adds, “We see people are completely dazed, shell-shocked from what has happened to them. They are the people-of-concern to us which we target to bring protection to.”
For this emergency response, UNHCR has mobilized teams to provide life-saving aid for displaced families affected by Haiyan. “Our supplies will target zones devastated by the storm, paying special attention to heightened needs in areas which were already affected by internal conflict, including Eastern Samar, Northern Negros and Masbate surrounding the badly-hit area of Tacloban,” said Kerblat. This will involve setting up a UNHCR presence in Cebu and a logistical hub in Roxas.
As co-lead of the Protection Cluster, UNHCR is mandated to provide timely and consistent assistance to the internally displaced and other affected people in complex emergencies and disasters. It was in this same capacity that UNHCR distributed protection and hygiene kits to 600 families displaced by fighting in Zamboanga and Basilan in September 2013.
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