Eight years after the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Super Typhoon Yolanda, one of the most powerful storms that hit the country, which took more than 6,000 lives, and left 30,000 individuals injured, the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) shared that their operations have remained "unparalleled" as they remember the victims of the disaster on Monday, November 8.
In a statement, PRC said that before, during, and after Haiyan, they led the way in delivering aid to the vast multitude that was affected. "We are almost a decade after Yolanda, yet the Philippine Red Cross has not stopped helping its victims to stand up on their feet. We are recognized as one of the best Red Cross societies in the world because of our Haiyan operations," PRC Chairman and CEO Senator Dick Gordon said.
"PRC has demonstrated that we could gather aid from almost all the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies worldwide and distribute them accordingly to the affected provinces," he added.
Gordon also mentioned that the country's PRC operations for Typhoon Haiyan reinforced the Red Cross as the go-to organization and the preferred partner of choice after they got the job done.
According to the PRC they initially delivered food, water, medical care, emergency shelter materials, and cash-as-aid projects to the affected towns.
It added that in the following days, weeks, months, and even years, the they led a huge contingent of Partner National Societies to roll out its recovery operations, this includes the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Swiss Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross, Singapore Red Cross, German Red Cross, Hong Kong Red Cross, Australian Red Cross, Italian Red Cross, British Red Cross,Korean Red Cross, Japan Red Cross, Taiwan Red Cross, French Red Cross, American Red Cross, Qatar Red Crescent, Netherlands Red Cross, and Norwegian Red Cross.
"Through the years, PRC has helped thousands of affected families to stand up on their feet after the life-altering superstorm. PRC ensured that they get back their livelihood as well as build safer and more disaster-resilient homes and classrooms in their communities. PRC also ensured that the affected families have access to improved health and sanitation facilities and services," PRC said in a statement.
PRC also mentioned that in their Haiyan Emergency Phase, from November 8, 2013, to March 30, 2014, they provided food items to more than 1.9 Million individuals or roughly 390,399 families. Non-food items such as plastic mats, blankets, mosquito nets, water containers, tarpaulins, and kitchen sets were also given to more than 1.2 million individuals or 258,972 families.
PRC also said that they provided cash assistance worth P281 million to a total of 90,779 families from December 2013 to March 2014.
They have also built 80,207 shelters built for the families affected in Leyte including Ormoc City, Western and Eastern Samar, Cebu, Capiz, Aklan, Antique, Iloilo, and Palawan. There are also 62,676 households supported through livelihood assistance through cash grants and livelihood training.
“PRC was the only organization to be able to build houses which were accounted for, donors can see where their houses are, who lives in there. We can produce a list," Gordon stated.
Cash livelihood assistance was also granted to 62,676 households while livelihood training was provided to 15,985 individuals, PRC said.
A total of 116 schools also received Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities while 1,168 community-based WASH facilities were constructed as well.
PRC also said that it repaired 94 health facilities and equipped 64,650 individuals through health-related promotional awareness campaigns. They also reconstructed 536 classrooms and distributed 8,375 school kits.
PRC then established the PRC Vocational Training Center in Leyte, the PRC Regional Logistic and Disaster Management Training Center in Passi City, and a blood facility in Bogo City.
PRC reminded citizens that disaster recovery is a "marathon" and not a "sprint" and that even after all those years, they remain hard at work, working alongside their partners in helping communities build back stronger, healthier, and more resilient to future disasters.
“Solidarity remains our guide in helping communities build back better from Haiyan and other disasters. Recovery has no shortcuts, this is why we will continue to work hand in hand with our partners for a better future," Gordon said.