volunteers of the Islamic Relief were dispatched to the Philippines to assess the situation and make plans to support emergency operations in the country.
IRW has since provided food packets, tents, tarpaulins, shelter kits (tarps, rope, ground sheet, blanket, mosquito nets, cooking utensils, tools and plastic tool box) to over 26,636 households in relief stage, he said.
Syed Shahnawaz Ali said that the IR had since moved from relief to early recovery, providing core shelter (shelter with latrine), water, sanitation and hygiene (wash), livelihoods and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) to over 96,142 Households or 127,926 individuals covering the Municipalities of Santa Fe, Bantayan and Madridejos on Bantayan Island, Daanbantayan in Northern Cebu, Municipalities of Kanangga and Villaba in Leyte Province.
He said the IR Philippines was being supported in its work by the partners including Unicef, Shelter Box, DEC and IR offices from the UK, Germany, USA, Switzerland, Australia, Malaysia, Canada and South Africa.
Ali explained that a year after Yolanda, there was still much support needed by affected communities because of the huge impact of the disaster. “Communities here need to be capacitated on disaster preparedness and emergency response, with the Philippines being a highly disaster-prone country with about 18 typhoons annually affecting the country.”
Ali informed that other than the “annual” disasters impacting the country, there was likewise the 30-years armed conflict between communists’ rebels and the government and the chronic war in southern Philippines, which has affected millions of people, especially those living in the rural areas.“There is also widespread poverty in the country where an estimated 16,000 million (16.6 percent of the population) still live in poverty.”
He said the Islamic Relief has planned to have its presence in the Philippines for a longer term. “In the next three years, IR will develop its programmes on poverty reduction, DRR and Climate change and conflict transformation in southern Philippines.These efforts will be done through partnerships and will require from the various IR offices across the globe and by tapping into the benevolent hearts of individual donors and supporters.