Philippines - IOM is appealing for US$21.5 million to respond to the devastation caused by typhoon Haiyan as part of the United Nations action plan. The Organization is co-lead for camp coordination and camp management under the humanitarian cluster system and will use part of the funds to ensure proper functioning of centres for the 450,000 people estimated to be sheltering in 1,790 evacuation centres.

A total of $16 million will be spent on providing emergency shelter, and the first of 5,000 tarpaulins will arrive in the devastated city of Tacloban tomorrow on specially chartered aircraft.

The east, central and Visayas regions have been worst hit, according to available data. Physical and technical infrastructure has been wiped out, severely hampering the delivery of aid.

“While material aid is obviously crucial for the hundreds of thousands of people in need, nothing can be done without the right communication mechanisms in place,” stressed Marco Boasso, IOM’s Chief of Mission in the Philippines. “We have to ensure that we know where the most vulnerable are, what their needs are, and that they know how to receive and use life-saving aid.

“Information can be life saving for people affected by a disaster, it is a vital form of aid that helps communities recover.”

The most urgent needs for the evacuation centres and displacement sites have been defined as solar radios with lights for two million people. These will allow people to receive vital information such as when and where aid is being distributed, and allow women and children greater safety during the hours of darkness.

IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix will be established to ensure everyone who has been displaced is identified and that the most vulnerable – pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with disabilities, and children – are able to receive aid.

The UN plan has three overall objectives: for morbidity, mortality and malnutrition to be brought to pre-typhoon levels within two months, for the homeless to get into temporary shelter within one month, and for those who lost their livelihoods to find short-term employment and regain self-reliance.

For more information please contact:
In Bangkok: Joe Lowry, Email: jlowry@iom.int, Tel. +66 81 8708081
In Manila: Leonard Doyle, Email: ldoyle@iom.int, Tel. +63 917 8908785 or Conrad Navidad, Email:cnavidad@iom.int, Tel. +63 908 8654543
In Bohol: Lionel Dosdos, Email: ldosdos@iom.int, Tel. +63 906 2228608