DEC members reach 1.6m people in month after Typhoon Haiyan

DEC member agencies and their partners have reached 1.6 million people with aid since Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines one month ago today.
 
The DEC has also announced today that its Philippines Typhoon Appeal has raised £73m in just one month.  This means the appeal has already raised more than all but three appeals in our 50 year history.  Fundraising for DEC appeals continues for six months, so the final total for the Philippines Typhoon Appeal will not be known until the end of March 2014.
 
The Typhoon first came ashore at Guiuan on the island of Samar at 8.40pm GMT on Thursday 7 November.  The local time was 4.40am on Friday the 8th of November. Aid delivered by DEC members and their partners since then has been paid for with DEC funds and money for other sources.  Some survivors will have received different kinds of help from more than one DEC agency.* 
 
DEC Chief Executive Saleh Saeed said:
 
“In homes up and down the country people have seen the devastation in the Philippines and decided that they simply had to help. In many cases we know they are facing considerable hardship themselves but they gave anyway.
 
“The UK public has once again placed its trust in the DEC and our member agencies.  We feel the weight of that trust as heavily as our obligation to help those whose lives have been ripped apart by this terrible storm.
 
“Our member agencies cannot undo the damage done by Haiyan, not in month or even a year, but they have worked with their partners to overcome enormous obstacles to deliver emergency aid to hundreds of thousands of survivors. The relief effort is ongoing and we must continue to scale it up but we must also begin to support the affected people of the Philippines down the slow, hard road they face to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.”
 
The overwhelming majority of the more than 14m people affected by the typhoon are believed to have now received some support from government, UN agencies, or local and international organisations. Many still need further emergency assistance as a matter of urgency. In some remote areas, little or no aid has reached survivors because roads are damaged or buried in debris and other infrastructure remains severely compromised. In addition to continuing to scale up the existing emergency relief operation, DEC members are now beginning to plan and deliver early recovery activities.
 

• More people still need emergency shelter which can be provided in the form of tough plastic sheeting, tents, or the tools and materials survivors need to build emergency shelters or make emergency repairs to their homes.  Those responding to the crisis are now starting to face the huge challenge of helping people find better shelter for the medium term including by repairing or rebuilding their own homes with appropriate support.  Past emergencies such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami have shown that large-scale, permanent reconstruction will take years if it is to meet the needs of survivors which include making sure homes are earthquake and typhoon resistant. 
•  Food and water distributions remain important in the short term but increasingly safe water sources must be created or rehabilitated, farmers must be supported to plant crops which need to be in the ground by the end of January, and fisherman need help to replace boats and gear so they can feed their families and earn a living.
•  Many survivors have now received emergency medical treatment for injuries but increasingly people are contracting serious chest infections while living in the open and there is also a significant risk of disease because many water sources have been contaminated by sewage.  Many permanent medical facilities will need substantial rehabilitation or rebuilding from scratch. 
• Schools have begun to reopen, bringing a much needed sense of normalcy for many children but in some areas schools are still being used as evacuation centres and others have been severely damaged or destroyed. 

 
Highest DEC appeal totals
£392 Tsunami Earthquake Appeal  2004
£107 Haiti Earthquake Appeal 2010
£79m East Africa Crisis Appeal 2011
£73m* Philippines Typhoon Appeal 2013
£71m Pakistan Floods Appeal  2010
 
* Note: First month of fundraising only.
 
The DEC was founded in December 1963 and since then it has run 64 appeals which have raised £1.1 billion and helped millions of people around the world.
 
Haiyan facts and figures: 

•  14.9m people have been affected
• Six million people have seen their homes damaged and destroyed (590,000 houses destroyed and an additional 613,000 houses significantly damaged)
• The official Government death toll is 5,759 dead (0600 Hours, 5 December Philippines local time).

Source: UN and Philippines Government
 
ENDS
 
Notes to editors
 
*     The figure of 1.6m people reached has been calculated by totalling the number of beneficiaries reached as reported by each of the DEC’s 14 member agencies.  This includes people reached through their partner organisations and using funding from the DEC and other sources.  While there should be very little or no double counting of the same aid deliveries, in some cases some unavoidable double counting will occur where different agencies have provided different kinds of help to the same people.  For example, Oxfam may have provided water and the Red Cross emergency shelter materials to the same community.  The figure is intended to convey the scale of the aid response by our members and partners.  We have not compared it to the total number of people in need of aid and would discourage others from doing so.  
 

• The DEC brings 14 leading UK aid charities together in times of crisis: ActionAid UK, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, Care International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Plan UK, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision; all collectively raising money to reach those in need quickly.
• Donations can be made at any high street bank and at post office counters.
• To donate £5 by text send the word SUPPORT to 70000.  The full £5 will go to the DEC Philippines Typhoon Appeal. Donors must be 16 years or over and have the bill payer’s permission. Texts are free and donations will be added to the bill.
• Donations can be made at www.dec.org.uk or 0370 60 60 900