Emergency

Oxfam staff report people begging for food in towns worst-hit.

The Philippines is struggling to recover from last month’s massive Typhoon Rai that caused losses worth 11.1 billion Php (NZ$317.3m) to agricultural crops and farmland and another 17.5 billion Php (NZ$487.2m) damages to homes, roads, electricity and water lines.

More than 420,000 hectares of land have been lost to storm floods, and as many as 925,000 homes damaged or destroyed. Key staple crops like rice, coconut and sugarcane have been wiped out across some regions of the country. The Philippines’ fisheries industry has lost over three billion’s Php (NZ$85.6m) worth of fishing boats, gear, and stock.

Oxfam Philippines Country Director Lot Felizco said: “Our staff reported finding people begging for scraps of food in Bontoc, Padre Burgos, Tomas Oppus and Malitbog, towns that were worst hit in Southern Leyte.

“As the rest of the world starts a new year with hope, nearly 7 million people – more than the entire population of Denmark – are struggling to come to terms with their homes damaged or destroyed and main incomes gone. Nearly 390,000 farmers and fishing folk have had their crops flattened, fishing boats smashed, or livestock killed or lost. They have been left with nothing.”

Petronilo Bohol, a fisher from Malitbog village, Southern Leyte, who had already been hit by two other storms before Rai said: “We live here because our only livelihood comes from the sea. We pulled out all the boats for safety, but the waves still reached them and reached the roads. Typhoon Rai was bigger and stronger than the two previous ones. It turned our mountains bald.”

Ramon Cabarrubias, a welder from Malitbog village, Southern Leyte, told Oxfam: “[During the storm] we crowded in our bathroom thinking that it was going to be our end. The next day, we came out to nothing. My mechanic tools are gone. Even my boat disappeared”.

Typhoon Rai was the last – and by far the strongest – of fifteen typhoons to have hit The Philippines in 2021.

Extreme weather events like Typhoon Rai are harbinger of worse to come. Scientists have long warned that rising global temperatures, induced by a man-made climate crisis, are causing typhoons to become more intense more frequent.

Oxfam roundly criticised the last COP26 climate talks for showing an “appalling disregard“ of the financial plan needed to compensate countries, like the Philippines, for loss and damage. It has urged rich polluting countries to honour their promises to cut carbon emissions to avoid a catastrophic global temperature rise above 1.5C, and also to stump up funding for mitigation and adaptation – and loss and damage – to poorer countries.

Climate-fueled extreme weather events, compounded by economic fallout from Covid-19 and existing inequalities, have pushed millions of vulnerable people in the Philippines to the brink of hunger and poverty.  In 2021, over 26 million people – nearly a quarter of the population – were already living under the poverty line, where families of five earn less than 12,082 Php (NZ$347) a month.

A recent survey in 2021, showed that 2.5 million Filipinos experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the three months (Jul-Sept 2021).

In the Philippines now – as local people struggle to clean up and recover their homes and livelihoods – urgent humanitarian funding is needed to provide lifesaving food and water, and to help people rebuild their homes, crops and businesses. Oxfam is urgently calling for 4 million Euros (NZ$6.7m) to help support its part of the collective humanitarian response in the country.          

Notes:

• Figures on loss and damages according to Department of Agriculture – DRRM Operations Centre. As of 3 Jan 2022
• Figures on infrastructure loss and damages are according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
• According to 2015-2020 data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, around 54.9 million or 64% Filipinos are chronically food insecure (IPC-Chronic level 2 and above). There are 14.5 million in level 3; and 7.1 million in level 4, totaling 21.6 million in IPC3 and above.
• Typhoon Rai has already killed more than 400 people, damaged nearly 830,000 houses, displaced over half a million from their homes, and left 6.8 million people in desperate humanitarian need.
• Oxfam, together with eight local partners have already reached over 38,000 people in the worst-hit communities in in Southern Leyte, Leyte province, and Siargao islands, with food packs, shelter repair materials, hygiene kits, sleeping kits, water kits, solar lights and solar packs. They also provided pre-disaster financial aid to 2,650 families in Eastern Samar to help them prepare for the typhoon.
• Data on hunger by the Social Weather Survey (SWS) reported in the 3rd quarter of 2021. http://www.sws.org.ph/swsmain/artcldisppage/?artcsyscode=ART-20211206105401
• Data on losses in agriculture and fishery sectors are from Philippines Department of Agriculture as of 6 Jan 2022

Following Typhoon Rai, hundreds of thousands of families are spending the new year in cramped evacuation centres, some being confined in rooms hosting four families at a time, according to Oxfam.

“Typhoon survivors already spent Christmas in evacuation centres; let’s not keep them there for New Year’s Day too as we are still battling the COVID-19 pandemic”, said Oxfam Pilipinas Country Director Lot Felizco.

“Congested conditions raise major health risks as it is impossible for them to observe physical distancing. The lack of water and sanitation facilities also make frequent hand washing and proper hygiene habits more challenging for typhoon survivors,”” added Felizco.

The government reported that over 370 people have died and 4.5 million Filipinos across 10 regions have been affected and displaced by Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai). Initial monitoring showed that at least 400,000 houses were damaged — 127,000 of which were completely destroyed.

In some areas affected by Typhoon Odette, residents are already staying in makeshift houses built from salvaged materials. “These are not sturdy or safe enough as rainfall continues in many parts of the country,” Felizco said.

Women and children’s safety are particularly at risk as there are no room partitions between families. In some evacuation centres, people are also forced to bathe in open areas due to the continuous low water supply. In some evacuation centres, people are also forced to bathe in open areas due to the continuous low water supply.

Oxfam Philippines calls on donors and the international community to prioritise funding for shelter repair materials on top of food and water for typhoon-hit communities. Providing construction materials to the community will allow typhoon survivors to repair and rebuild their homes, and help, in turn, decongest evacuation centres.

In Siargao, Oxfam and partner United Youth of the Philippines-Women (UnYPhil-Women) have already distributed 200 hygiene kits, 200 sleeping kits, and 200 water kits for the island barangay in San Fernando, Del Carmen town.

Oxfam and its partner “Community Organizers Multiversity” are also currently transporting 500 food packs, 500 hygiene kits, 150 sleeping kits, 300 water containers, 90 boxes of aqua tabs, and 50 shelter kits to island barangays of Caub in Del Carmen; Mabini and Dayahoay in Pilar town.

Moreover, Oxfam Pilipinas has deployed solar packs to support SIKAT and the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices of Padre Burgos and Macrohon in Southern Leyte.

Notes

Oxfam Pilipinas is a humanitarian and development organisation that has been addressing the root causes of poverty and inequality in the Philippines in the last 30 years. It is part of an international confederation of organisations present in 90 countries.

• While COVID-19 cases in the Philippines is much lower now compared to previous months, other countries are experiencing a surge in new cases due to the Omicron variant.