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Press Releases & Updates

07 FEB 2014

Philippines Typhoon Update: Three Months On

updated 7 Feb, 2014

Latest Situation

• On 8 November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc across much of the central Philippines, affecting over 14 million people. In total, 6,190 people were killed, and more than 4 million people were forced from their homes.

• Three months on, humanitarian needs across Typhoon Haiyan hit areas remain enormous. At the end of December, over 29 per cent of the typhoon affected population was dependent on food assistance, with more than a quarter of people sometimes spending a whole day without eating.

• Typhoon Haiyan destroyed or damaged 1.1 million homes. So far the UN and its partners have provided more than 470,000 households with basic emergency shelter materials (i.e. tents and tarpaulins) and 78,000 households with shelter materials (i.e. tools, building and iron sheets) to repair their homes.  More than 26,000 people still live in evacuation centres.

• The humanitarian response to date has focused on the provision of food and other relief items such as soap, mosquito nets, blankets, and short-term cash transfers mainly through cash-for-work (such as debris clearing). The World Food Programme has so far provided 17,800 tons of food for more than 2.7 million affected people, and cash to more than 194,000 people.

• Close to 6 million workers lost their sources of income in the typhoon. Small stores were flattened, 30,000 boats were destroyed, millions of coconut trees were decimated and more than 1 million tonnes of crops lost.

• Despite the $653 million provided by donors for the response, there is an urgent need for a rapid injection of support for coconut farmers and fishing communities. So far, the United Nations has received zero funding for fisher folk and coconut producers, the poorest and most affected people,


Oxfam’s Response

• Oxfam has reached more than 547,000 people with relief in the first three months of the response. We are working on the islands of Cebu, Leyte and Samar and with four bases in Tacloban, Cebu, Bantayan and Ormoc.

• In Tacloban, we provide clean water to more than 200,000 people by supporting the government to repair and fix broken pipes. We have provided people with hygiene kits, sanitation services, cash support, water kits, rice seed, shelter materials, kits for pregnant women, hygiene education and cleared waste and debris.

• We have provided 27,300 water kits, containing a jerry can, bucket and water treatment materials, so families can drink clean, safe water. We have also built or repaired 3,300 community toilets, and constructed washing blocks and handwashing stations so people can stay healthy and clean.

• Oxfam has distributed 62,500 hygiene kits, so families can stay free of disease. Kits contain buckets, soap and clean underwear, as well as mosquito nets and sleeping mats.

• We are also helping to prevent diseases, such as dengue and malaria, for almost 38,000 families by working with the Department of Health in Tacloban to “fog” areas at risk using chemicals to kill mosquitos.

• We are supporting fisher people to rebuild their broken boats and will provide people with start-up capital for small businesses, as well as equipment such as fishing nets and kits, seeds and fertiliser. We moved quickly to get rice seed to 6,000 farmers in Leyte, so families could plant during the planting season and help prevent a rice shortage.

• Oxfam has provided farmer cooperatives with chainsaws and sawmills to clear the land of fallen coconut trees for replanting and help them process the fallen trees into lumber.