UN and humanitarian partners call for urgent aid for victims of recent typhoon

One month after Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai) pummeled 11 regions across the Philippines, hundreds of thousands of people still urgently need food and clean water, shelter and protection support.

The world’s second deadliest disaster of 2021, Odette brought devastation on a scale comparable to that of Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) in 2013. Eight million people have been affected across 11 regions, almost 1.4 million houses have been damaged, and 198,652 people remain displaced—156,551 of them still in evacuation centers as their homes are too damaged to return to.

A crisis within a crisis, the typhoon hit just as the Philippines experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases, causing threats to public health and safety and creating multiple operational challenges for the humanitarian response, with staff falling sick, mobility restricted, and transport of supplies disrupted.

“Humanitarians are doing all they can to support the government’s response by scaling up and getting help to people in need while navigating the COVID-19 surge and other obstacles. Challenges lie ahead but we are making progress,” said Manja Vidic, head of e United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Philippines.

The Humanitarian Country Team, composed of the United Nations (UN), international non-government organizations (INGOs), local NGOs, and the private sector, is addressing life-saving and time-critical recovery needs of people affected in support of the government, building on relationships strengthened over years of collaboration and localization efforts.

On Dec. 24, the Humanitarian Coordinator launched a Humanitarian Needs and Priorities Plan, calling for $107.2 million to support 530,000 of the most vulnerable people. So far, it has received $42.2 million or 39.4 per cent of the plan’s needs.

Eight million people have been affected across 11 regions, almost 1.4 million houses have been damaged, and 198,652 people remain displaced.

These are the priority needs even now, over a month since Typhoon Odette.

Food security. With livelihoods turned upside down, 135,327 hectares of crops destroyed and agricultural damage at more than $224 million, humanitarian agencies are supporting the government by targeting to help 530,000 people with food assistance and cash vouchers.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene. Water supplies have been disrupted in dozens of locations due to power outages or direct damage. Humanitarian agencies are prioritizing access to safe water and hygiene for the most vulnerable by trucking in clean water, distributing water purification tablets, mending or building latrines, and providing other hygiene supplies.

Shelter. Families also need urgent support to rebuild their damaged or destroyed homes. The government and aid agencies have distributed tens of thousands of tarps to displaced communities, and distribution of shelter repair kits and materials is now underway.

Protection. Women and girls are facing disproportional impacts from the typhoon, due to limited access to sexual and reproductive health services, to an increase in genderbased violence, and interruptions to education and protection services. Children also face increased risk of exploitation, abuse, and trafficking.

Within days of the typhoon hitting, the Emergency Relief Coordinator allocated $12 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP, and IOM as well as their local partners to support swift scale-up in food, emergency telecoms, logistics, camp management, shelter, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence prevention, water and sanitation, education, and child protection. OCHA also released an Emergency Cash Grant of $100,000 to help local NGO A Single Drop for Safe Water provide cash assistance to affected families in Palawan.

OCHA is establishing two coordination hubs, one in Eastern Visayas and the second in the Caraga region to support coordination of operations on the ground. In addition to coordinating information flows across the humanitarian sector, OCHA will continue to monitor funding against the Humanitarian Needs and Priorities Plan and advocate for swift support for the response and early recovery.