UNICEF chief meets with storm and flood victims in the Philippines

The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has met with victims of recent storms in the Philippines, witnessing the damage wrought by the typhoon and subsequent floods and hearing first-hand accounts of the devastation.

Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, yesterday toured communities in Pasig City, part of the Manila metropolitan area and one of the hardest-hit districts in the wake of Tropical Storm Ondoy (also known as Ketsana) late last month.

About 300 Filipinos died and hundreds of thousands of others were displaced from their homes by the storm, which brought the equivalent of a year’s worth of rain in just 12 hours to some areas of Manila. Many families have had to seek temporary shelter in schools and other public buildings.

“My heart goes out to the families I met today, who now have no home but the corner of a school classroom,” Ms. Veneman said, noting that she was encouraged by news that many children are starting to return to school classes.

One of the people the UNICEF chief met was Rossana Balboa, a 40-year-old mother who is staying in a classroom of a local school with her family and five other families.

“It’s been very difficult,” she told Ms. Veneman. “My husband is sick and because of the flood he doesn’t work, so we don’t have money for medicines.”

UNICEF has provided authorities in Pasig City and other neighbourhoods with family kits containing such items as water cans, blankets, mosquito nets and sleeping mats. Water and hygiene kits are also being issued to ensure that families have clean water for drinking and cooking.

UN agencies have appealed for $74 million to help victims recover from both Ondoy and the more recent Typhoon Parma, which struck more rural areas of the northern Philippines when it made landfall in recent days.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the region continues to be beset by floods and mudslides as a result of the latest intense rains, which have exacerbated the problems caused by Ondoy.

Yesterday Ms. Veneman also met with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, President of the Philippines, to discuss how UNICEF can best assist authorities provide emergency relief to flood victims.

John Holmes, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, will arrive in the Philippines on Monday for a two-day visit of his own to meet with senior officials and review the emergency response.