Philippines - IOM is responding to a request for life-saving assistance from the government of the Philippines as extensive flooding in the capital Manila continues to affect more than 600,000 people.
 
Tropical storm Maring (international codename Trami) and a southwest monsoon have caused havoc in low-lying Manila and in mountainous areas over the past three days, bringing everyday life to a standstill and causing many businesses, government offices and schools to close.
 
The monsoon rains which have claimed at least seven lives, have submerged more than half of Metro Manila in floodwaters. Tens of thousands of homes were inundated and roads made impassable across the mega city of 12 million people, causing tens of thousands to flee to evacuation centres.
 
Heavy rains started on 18 August and requests for rescue and assistance began pouring in as the weather worsened.
 
By early today 347 areas in 42 municipalities and cities were flooded, with 64 roads across the area impassable to all types of vehicles. The torrential rains are expected to continue for the next two to three days.
 
“With a total of 125,024 families (601,104 people) in some dire need across the National Capital Region (NCR) and in the mountains of the Cordillera, IOM Philippines is mustering all its resources to support the government’s response,” said Marco Boasso, IOM Philippines Chief of Mission.
 
Dinky Soliman,  Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the government’s emergency response agency, yesterday formally requested IOM to activate the Camp Coordination Camp Management (CCCM) aid agency cluster system.
 
IOM was also asked to provide technical assistance to the government for camp management and to support the operation of evacuation centres being set up by local and national government. The government has also asked the World Food Programme (WFP) for transport and logistics support.
 
At this stage of the crisis, IOM’s response will focus on capturing the numbers made homeless in all evacuation centres through its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM); identifying needs/gaps to inform the UN humanitarian response; and activating and managing the humanitarian cluster system to coordinate the aid response in the affected areas.
 
The DTM assessments will include a review of health needs from individuals and health service facilities at or serving the evacuation centres to provide supplementary evidence for a health cluster response led by the World Health Organization (WHO).
 
IOM will also train community-based camp managers in the basic procedures and standards required in evacuation centres. It will also facilitate delivery of relief and humanitarian assistance in hard to access evacuation centres, including operation of mobile medical clinics with primary health care for isolated evacuees, facilitation of health referrals where urgent care is needed, and assisted transport for displaced people in need.
 
IOM’s response is being funded from its existing resources, but emergency funding will be requested from donors as the extent of the crisis becomes clear. UNOCHA has also been approached for funding to ensure that evacuations centres are well run and that all those needing assistance are properly accounted for. 

For more information please contact

Romina Sta. Clara
IOM Manila
Tel. + 63 9175456418
Email: rstaclara@iom.int