NDRRMC stops death count, shifts to typhoon damage

MANILA, Philippines - The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has shifted its focus in estimating the damage left by Super Typhoon Yolanda after it ceased counting the number of casualties that has remained at 6,069 for the last three days.

NDRRMC executive director Eduardo del Rosario reported the damage left by Yolanda in infrastructure and agriculture in the storm-ravaged Central, Eastern and Western Visayas as well as part of Bicol, Southern Tagalog and Caraga region has increased to P36.6 billion from the previous P35.5 billion.

“The total cost of damage is pegged at P36,622.812,497.27, with P18,268,506,627.39 for infrastructure and P18,354,305,869 for agriculture,” Del Rosario reported.

This developed as 12 more bodies were retrieved Tuesday in Tacloban City.

Joint Task Force commander Fire Senior Superintendent Pablito Cordeta said they have already retrieved 2,477 bodies in Tacloban City since they started operations last Nov. 15.

The fatality figures of the Joint Task Force, however, were not added to the NDRRMC’s official fatality report of 2,454 in Tacloban.

Climate change

Foreign assistance led by the United States continued in storm-affected areas in the Visayas.

US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday announced the US government would provide $25 million in humanitarian assistance. This additional funding, which increases the total US humanitarian assistance package to nearly $87 million for the relief effort, will provide additional food aid, shelter materials, clean water and hygiene education and supplies for families affected by the typhoon, as well as protection for vulnerable populations.

Kerry also announced a new public-private partnership with US companies Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola that will provide assistance to over 2,000 sari-sari stores in typhoon-affected areas to repair, restock and reopen for business.

“The United States is committed, going forward, to doing whatever we can to help our friends in the Philippines,” Kerry said.

Kerry traveled to Leyte yesterday to visit storm-affected areas.

He met with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Cuisia Jr., NDRRMC chief Del Rosario, Rep. Martin Romualdez, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez and a group of “local heroes” who were recognized for their extraordinary efforts to help victims of the monster storm.

When asked about climate justice for Typhoon Yolanda victims and more financial obligation by the US to provide assistance for its carbon emissions, Kerry said there is no direct link between Yolanda and climate change.

Kerry said he has been involved in climate change issues since the 1980s and believes science cannot ascertain if Yolanda was the result of changing climate.

“Now, having said everything I just said, science cannot prove that Typhoon Yolanda was specifically the result of climate change. It is not possible to make that direct linkage at this point in time, even though they are predicting greater intensity of storms, but over time a pattern will evolve, and that may become more determinative,” Kerry said in a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Tuesday following their bilateral meeting at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

“Nevertheless, what we face today is sufficient to say that developed nations in the world need to take the lead in order to reduce emissions and begin to deal with this problem that lots of nations, like the Pacific Islands and others who haven’t caused anything, are feeling the consequences of,” Kerry said.

“That is why we have a major emitters forum of the top 20 emitting countries who are working towards taking steps both of mitigation and prevention.”

Chinese Red Cross builds classrooms

Meanwhile, the Chinese Red Cross Society is building transitional classrooms for thousands of schoolchildren in Tacloban.

According to Zhang Ming, director of the external liaison department of the Chinese Red Cross, the project is a way for them to pay back the support that poured in for China after a strong earthquake hit Sichuan province in 2008.

“We got a lot of international support. From that time to now, a big change happened in the Chinese Red Cross. We started building up our professional services. Now, we can (help devastated communities) outside China. Responding in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines is our first time to do so,” she said. – With Pia Lee-Brago, Shiela Crisostomo, Janvic Mateo