Philippines capital still a disaster zone
Updated
The Philippines' capital, Manila, remains a disaster zone, four days after Tropical Storm Ketsana struck, causing devastating floods.
More than 240 people have died in the floods and another 400,000 people have displaced after 2 million homes were inundated or swept away.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Ramon Ilagan, mayor of Cainta, Philippines; Vanessa Tobin, UNICEF representative in Manila
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IIAGAN: Almost 100 per cent of Cainta underwater. What we need right now is relief goods for our constituents affecting now, especially in the urban poor areas.
LAM: The mayor of Cainta province in the Philippines there, Ramon Ilagan.
Well, 246 people died in the floods and another 400-thousand people displaced, after two million homes were inundated or swept away.
Exhausted survivors are being housed in schools, gymnasiums, churches and other makeshift shelters, as authorities and aid agencies try to cope with a desperate city in need of food, clean water and medicine.
The UN is coordinating relief efforts with the government, and for the latest, we're joined by UNICEF country representative, Vanessa Tobin, in Manila. Vanessa, good morning.
TOBIN: Good morning.
LAM: Vanessa Tobin, first of all UNICEF has been accessing Manila after the floods. What can you tell us about the current situation?
TOBIN: Right now obviously, it's fluctuating, it's changing a lot. On Monday and Tuesday, we were out visiting evacuation centres all over the city, spread everywhere. The amount now as you have said is two million people affected, 600 odd evacuation centres, about 200 of those are schools, so getting people back into schools at the moment. Schools are closed this week, but that is obviously going to be other challenges as we go forward. You have got inside evacuation centres, about 400,000. but that figure is changing, because people are starting to go back to their houses, even though the houses still have levels of water, mud and it's still a condition within those houses that we're concerned and worried about, in terms of health. I think as you have earlier said the immediate needs right now is very much on the water and health aspects, ensuring that within the evacuation centres, they have adequate safe water and ensuring that sanitation and hygiene is in place in the evacuation centres and then those families that are going back have adequate facilities to be able to ensure that their water is safe and that we can stop disease, prevention as much as possible. We're obviously worried now to stop any outbreaks in terms of diarroheal diseases and pneumonia, because of course obviously particularly children are affected in terms of being wet and not having enough clothes, not having blankets.
LAM: Indeed as you say, people are cold and vulnerable to disease. We've also received reports that the facilities at these evacuation centres are quite appalling. Can you tell us a little bit about that, the conditions at these centres?
TOBIN: Well, the numbers, the government has been working really quite closely in terms of monitoring, providing food, water, shelter at the centres, but the problem is the numbers of people as I saw on Monday went up quite rapidly, even during the period of two hours people were, doubling the number of people at the centres and that of course is very difficult in terms of them making calculations of what is needed. I think the conditions that were worrying and that does need obvious focus at the moment is the sanitation and hygiene conditions at the evacuation centres, because that is difficult, because the number of facilities that are there at the centres in terms of toilets and ensuring that there are adequate is important. There are water shortages obviously at the beginning of the week to and that was because most of the water provided, particularly on the eastern side of Manila is pumped. It's very much based on having the electricity available and of course the electricity was out, many of the pumps submerged, affected and the Metro Manila Water Authority right now estimates that they had got 90 per cent back on path. So now the efforts of course have to focus on the sanitation and the hygiene side as well.
LAM: Vanessa, you mentioned people wanting to return to their homes. Now you obviously toured some of these neighbourhoods yesterday. Can you tell us what you saw? How widespread is the devastation?
TOBIN: It's all over Manila. You have got different, I mean that's the danger and the difficulties in terms of logistics, because many of the areas. We could not get into them. You still have got very high levels of water and trying to get vehicles around is impossible, even when the water is residing, you have got problems of cleaning out mud and being able to even go back and live in these houses, but people are. They want to go back to their houses. Obviouslly they are worried about their possessions. They want to get back to normal as quickly as possible.
LAM: Indeed, we'll have to leave it there Vanessa, but good luck with your work.
TOBIN: Thank you very much.
LAM: That was Vanessa Tobin, UNICEF's representative in Manila and the UNICEF Appeal site if you want to help the Philippine flood survivors is www.unicef.org/philippines. And Typhoon Ketsana has moved onto Indo China causing floods and landslides in Vietnam killing 31 people and making 170,000 people homeless and in neighbouring Cambodia, local officials said at least eight people died as the storm hit Kompong Thom. At least 30 houses were destroyed and 12 other people injured.
