Typhoon Ketsana's storm path has left World Vision aid workers scrambling to track its potential trail of destruction, assess needs and provide aid.
Humanitarian staff have been dispatched to remote villages in Laos and rural areas of Vietnam to determine how much assistance people need. In Vietnam, some areas where World Vision has long term projects remain cut off by flood waters, fallen trees and landslides.
In Laos, World Vision humanitarian worker Vatthanathavone Inthirath said Khammouane province had been hit by rains. Staff were still waiting to hear what the impact had been on four outlying project areas and would be conducting assessments either this afternoon or tomorrow with provincial officials, depending on accessibility, to determine the needs of villagers.
She said: "We have the capability to urgently ready 500 aid packs if our assessment teams find these are needed. Included in them will be blankets, medicines and plastic sheeting."
In Savannakhet province aid workers were this afternoon (Wed) on their way by car to Setone district where they had heard 5-6 villagers had been flooded. They needed to establish what help was needed.
In Vietnam, recovery operations have started after the worst of the storm hit at 2-4pm yesterday The government was sending helicopters to rescue people from more remote regions. More than 5,800 houses were reported collapsed with some 163,000 houses having lose their roofs.
Today (Wed) World Vision workers were planning to distribute 1,000 family food aid packs to some 5,000 people in several project areas, including to Quang Tri one of the worst impacted areas, which is still cut off from the outside world. Staff based there are using prepositioned supplies for the distribution. Distributions were also planned for Phuoc Son and Tien Phuoc districts in the central province of Quang Nam. Initial distributions will be followed by hand outs of family kits and construction materials.
Aid worker Mr Le Van Duong , World Vision's Relief and Disaster Mitigation Coordinator, currently based in Danang, said: "Some areas remain inaccessible due to fallen trees and power lines, landslides and flooding. In some places the flood waters are two meters high."
In Manila, World Vision is planning to meet the needs of 20,000 families and is globally attempting to raise USD$2 million to enable a comprehensive response. Staff were today distributing hundreds aid packs at an evacuation centre and this afternoon launching a special area for hundreds of children to play, to help them escape the distress of the last few days.
World Vision Philippines advocacy director, Minnie Portales said: "The scale of the devastation is stretching all of us. The important thing is to show people that they are not forgotten by getting even small amounts of aid out. It is also critical that we care for children whose lives have been turned upside down by this catastrophe. We are doing that with our child friendly spaces."
Food packs include rice, noodles water, cans of sardines, corned beef and pork and beans, oatmeal, biscuits. Recipients are the worst affected by the floods.
Contacts:
Laos:
Vanhlee Lattana (Leebee), Communications officer - based in Savanakhet
Cell: (856) 202471594
Vatthanathavone Inthirath, Communications officer - based in Khammouane
Cell: (856) 205510900
Vietnam:
Mr Le Van Duong - Relief & Disaster Mitigation Coordinator - currently based in Danang
Cell: +84 904 16 2634 (Note: please be patient when trying to get through. Due to power cuts there are no landlines available.)
Ms Nguyen Kim Ngan - Communications Officer - based in Hanoi
Office: 84 4 394 39920 (Ext: 117)
Cell: +84 902 16 3379
Philippines:
Jose "Boy" Bersales, HEA Director
Tel: (+63) 9228741636
Filomena "Minnie" Portales, Advocacy & Communications Director
Tel: (+63) 9175342165
Boris Joaquin, Publics in Ministry Director
Tel: (+63) 917-5594272
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Victims of Typhoon Ketsana, locally known as Ondoy, react after an announcement that relief goods have been depleted at an evacuation center in Tatalon, Quezon City Metro Manila September 30, 2009. ...
