Philippines: Impact of typhoon shocking

|PIC1|As another typhoon dumped heavy rain on the Philippines last night, World Vision staff said they were “shocked” by the devastation caused by Ketsana less than a week ago.

The Philippines had feared that Typhoon Parma would wreak further havoc in areas still recovering from Ketsana, which deluged Manila and neighbouring provinces in a month’s worth of rain in less than seven hours and killed more than 250 people before displacing 200,000 people in Vietnam.

Authorities in the Philippines said Parma had weakened before making landfall but was continuing to drop heavy rain on the main island of Luzon on Saturday.

World Vision says it needs $2 million to help survivors of Ketsana. It is already working with the Philippine Coast Guard to distribute aid and emergency response teams are being assembled to bring food and other relief items to nearly 100,000 people in Manila, many of whom have lost their homes.

"The impact of this typhoon on Manila has been shocking," said Elnora Avarientos, World Vision's national director in the Philippines. "Many have lost everything, including bedding, food, education materials, and clothing. The poorest living in slums and settlements are especially badly hit."

World Vision said some of its own staff had been hit by the floods, with some fleeing the surging waters to take shelter at the World Vision office and 25 employees receiving emergency aid from the organisation.

"Houses were flooded in just a few minutes, so people were not able to bring their belongings or food into evacuation centres," said Boy Bersales, World Vision's emergency affairs director. "Others waited on their rooftops to be rescued."