A revised appeal will allow the Red Cross to support 20,000 families for 12 months with food, shelter and livelihood support
BANGKOK (AlertNet) – The Red Cross has more than doubled its original appeal for the victims of Typhoon Washi in Philippines to $6.1 million, saying in a statement that increased financial needs “reflect the perilous situation still faced by those who were severely affected”.
Two months ago, the storm, considered one of the country’s worst natural disasters in two decades, killed more than 1,200 people on conflict-ravaged Mindanao island in the southern Philippines. It destroyed more than 10,000 houses and affected an estimated 1.14 million people.
In the immediate aftermath, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), in support of the Philippine Red Cross, made an appeal of $2.8 million.
The revised appeal will allow the Red Cross to support 20,000 families for 12 months with food, shelter, livelihood support and such non-food items as water storage containers and hygiene kits.
In the wake of the storm, authorities decreed some land unsafe for rebuilding and forbade people to return to these areas.
“The process underway now is to find new and safe land. But in the interim, people need to be able to continue their lives with dignity and with access to basic support, and that’s we are aiming to achieve,” Selvaratnam Sinnadurai, the IFRC’s representative to the Philippines, said in the statement.
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