U.N. appeals for US$144 mil. for Philippines

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Tuesday only US$26 million was received in response to the initial appeal in early October for US$74 million to help 1 million flood victims.

Now, much more is needed.

New government data and assessments by U.N. agencies and nongovernmental organizations found that 4.2 million people out of the 10 million affected by the typhoons need help, including more than 520,000 children under the age of five, the U.N. humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said.

The US$144 million appeal will cover the work of U.N. agencies, the International Organization for Migration and several nongovernmental organizations from November until March 2010, it said.

Tropical Storm Ketsana swept across Central Luzon on Sept. 26, bringing months worth of rain in just 12 hours and causing the worst flooding in 40 years to the capital, Manila. The typhoon affected 4 million Filipinos, killed almost 300 people and destroyed or badly damaged almost 40,000 houses, the U.N. said.

A week later on Oct. 3, Typhoon Parma blew across the country's mountainous north, making landfall in Northern Luzon, reversing track twice, and bringing heavy rains over an area much larger than initially anticipated. More than 400 people died in landslides though Manila, still awash in floodwaters from Ketsana, was spared a new disaster.

Parma was followed by Typhoon Mirinae on Oct. 31, which battered the country for the third time in just over a month, leaving about 30 dead.

OCHA said humanitarian agencies are especially concerned about the estimated 1.7 million people still displaced or living in areas that remain flooded.

These areas are likely to remain flooded for another three or four months, putting those affected at serious risk of disease outbreaks, OCHA said.

In Northern Luzon, the Philippine's main agricultural region, the timing and extent of the typhoons severely affected the critical planting season.

According to preliminary joint assessments by the Philippines Department of Agriculture and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, between 100,000 and 120,000 farming households — with an estimated 500,000 people — lost 100 percent of their production and assets, OCHA said.

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