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Tropical Storm Ketsana Floods Philippines: ADRA Responds
01 Oct 2009 20:55:00 GMT
 Source: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International
Nadia McGill

Website: Website: http://www.adra.org

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ADRA is distributing food packs for affected families in the greater Metro Manila area.
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ADRA is distributing food packs for affected families in the greater Metro Manila area.
ADRA Philippines

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SILVER SPRING, Md.--In its initial response to an appeal by the Philippine government to aid the hundreds of thousands of survivors of Tropical Storm Ketsana, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is distributing emergency food items for affected families, to help them recover from what is reportedly the worst flooding to hit the Philippines in more than 40 years.

Ketsana, which is also known locally as Ondoy, hit the northern Philippines over the weekend, bringing torrential rainfall, record flooding and deadly landslides, and displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

"The recent calamity brought by typhoon Ondoy was an extreme event not likely to happen again in our lifetimes," said Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, "[It was] an extreme event whose record rainfall strained our response capabilities to the limit."

The intervention will provide for the nutritional needs of 1,345 families currently residing in evacuation centers in the metropolitan Manila region.

To help these survivors, ADRA is distributing food packs for affected families in the greater Metro Manila area, starting with Quezon City, one of the worst affected areas in the region. Each pack will feed a family for one week, and is stocked with rice, sardines, noodles, fruits, beans, milk and essential food items, such as oil, salt, and sugar.

ADRA is coordinating with authorities from the local city/municipal Department of Social Welfare and Development offices, as well as the Adventist Community Services (ACS), in order to avoid duplication, and better prioritize those who are most in need.

This initial response is valued at $20,000, and is financed by the Southern Asia Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists, ADRA International, the ADRA Asia Regional Office, and ADRA Philippines.

As of September 29, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported that more than 333,000 families were affected by the storm, with 246 people confirmed dead, and another 38 still missing. More than $99 million worth of infrastructure and crops were destroyed by the storm, with $66 million of that in the agricultural sector, and more than $32 million in infrastructure.

GMANews.TV, a website for the news department of the Philippine broadcaster GMA Network, Inc., reported that, according to Nathaniel Cruz, weather services bureau head of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), in the first six hours of the storm, total rainfall was approximately 13 inches (341 mm), greater than the highest number in recorded history of rainfall in one 24-hour period set in 1967. Cruz also added that in those six hours, it rained nearly as much as it normally rains in an entire month in Metro Manila.

On September 26, a State of National Calamity was declared for Metro Manila and 25 Luzon provinces in response to the storm, allowing officials to use emergency funds for relief and rescue.

As our response efforts expand, follow ADRA on twitter and get the latest information as it happens.

To send your contribution to ADRA's Emergency Response Fund, please contact ADRA at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372) or give online at www.adra.org.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.

For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Background information

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Typhoon Ketsana - [Who works where]

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Philippines

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