AHA Centre helping people in Philippines
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With a super typhoon hitting the Philippines last Friday, the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) has been providing necessary support to the Philippines government as well as coordinating assistance f
The AHA Centre has sent an emergency response team to the Philippines after monitoring the movements of Haiyan in the past six days through its operation centre in Jakarta and alerted member states about its possible impact.
The centre had sent its team and the Asean Emergency Rapid Assessment Team (Asean-ERAT) to Manila and Tacloban a day before the powerful typhoon made landfall in the Philippines.
The centre has also coordinated with National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council authorities to discuss possible relief support for the country.
The United States, Australia and the United Nations are mobilising emergency aid to the Philippines as the scale of the devastation unleashed by Super Typhoon Haiyan emerges.
The Pentagon is sending military personnel and equipment to assist with the relief effort following the typhoon, which may have killed more than 10,000 people in what is feared to be the country’s worst natural disaster.
“The United States is already providing significant humanitarian assistance, and we stand ready to further assist the government’s relief and recovery efforts,” US President Barack Obama said in a statement.
Some 90 Marines and sailors, and two KC-130J Hercules aircraft left Japan for the Philippines on Saturday, with equipment including tilt-rotor aircraft which can operate without runways, Marine Colonel John Peck said.
The Australian government pledged A$10 million (Bt294.5 million), with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop describing the unfolding tragedy as “absolutely devastating” and on a “massive scale”.
The sum includes A$4 million towards a UN global appeal and A$3 million for Australian non-government organisations. The aid will include tarpaulins, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, water containers and health and hygiene kits.
A team of Australian medics will leave tomorrow via a C17 military transport plane from Darwin to join disaster experts already on the ground, the government said, after it disbursed emergency funds worth US$490,000 (Bt15.3 million) on Sunday.
Philippine rescue teams were said to be overwhelmed in their efforts to help those whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed after Haiyan ravaged large swathes of the archipelago on Friday.
Officials were struggling to cope with the scale of death and destruction, with reports of violent looters and scarcity of food, drinking water and shelter.
United Nations leader Ban Ki-moon promised UN humanitarian agencies would “respond rapidly to help people in need”.
The UN children’s fund Unicef said a cargo plane carrying 60 tonnes of aid including shelters and medicine would arrive in the Philippines today, to be followed by deliveries of water purification and sanitation equipment.
Pope Francis led 60,000 people in Sunday prayers for the Philippines, urging the faithful to provide “concrete help” to the largely Roman Catholic country. “Sadly, there are many, many victims and the damage is huge,” he said.
