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Philippines: helping people cope with displacement and torrential rain
02-10-2008 Photo gallery
On 10 August 2008, the Philippine armed forces and fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front resumed hostilities on the island of Mindanao. The ICRC immediately launched an emergency operation to help those forced to leave their homes by the fighting. So far, over 120,000 have received food, water and basic household items.
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The rainy season further aggravates the plight of the displaced, many of whom are in makeshift shelters.
Since 12 August, the ICRC has handed out food and essential household items to more than 84,000 people in North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Lanao del Norte and Sarangani.
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The conflict in Mindanao has displaced thousands from their homes and villages. Over the past few years, the ICRC has been assisting up to 100,000 of these displaced people per year. But this is different. In just the two weeks following the resumption of hostilities in August, thousands took to the roads at once. In the past, displacement usually lasted only a few days. This time, some people have spent weeks away from home, leaving their fields unattended.
Seven to eight teams made up of ICRC and Philippine Red Cross staff are in the field every day, working in coordination with the armed forces and local authorities. They first assess the needs of the displaced people and then distribute aid within days.
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Mindanao has suffered its worst fighting since 2003. Up to half a million people have been affected by the hostilities, and tens of thousands of them have had to flee their homes.
Between now and the end of 2008, the ICRC intends to provide assistance and protection for up to 325,000 people.
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“This is the worst fighting in Mindanao since 2003, with the worst consequences in humanitarian terms,” says Felipe Donoso, head of the ICRC delegation in Manila. “We were used to displaced people returning to their homes after three or four days. Now, however, the situation is persisting. Moreover, their coping mechanisms have been weakened by repeated displacements due to the conflict and natural disasters.”
The ICRC expects to continue assisting displaced people on Mindanao until at least the end of 2008.
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Some families found shelter among their relatives. The majority are staying in evacuation centres or makeshift accommodation along the road. They need basic medical care, clean water, food and shelter.
The ICRC’s response has included supporting existing medical facilities, setting up water storage bladders and distributing food and essential household items.
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The resurgence of violence in Mindanao has added to the plight of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, some of whose homes were recently devastated by typhoons. The protracted conflict has plunged most parts of the island into poverty.
The ICRC, the World Food Programme and the Philippine authorities have been supplying and distributing food. At the same time, it is important not to destroy existing coping mechanisms with a massive influx of food, which could cause local markets to collapse.
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According to government sources, the largest displacement took place in North Cotabato Province, where over 130,000 people fled their homes just a few days after widespread fighting resumed on 10 August.
In the first two weeks of fighting the ICRC provided one-week food rations for nearly 50,000 displaced people in Cotabato and Sarangani provinces, with the support of the Philippine National Red Cross.
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Torrential rain has lent added urgency to the need to provide shelter for those unable to stay with host families.
The ICRC has provided tarpaulins to help people set up shelters like this one.
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Since the beginning of the crisis on 10 August 2008, the ICRC has provided sanitation and clean water for more than 40,000 people in North Cotabato, Maguindanao and Lanao del Norte. This involved building or protecting 10 shallow wells equipped with hand pumps, installing bladder tanks, repairing a water distribution network in a school, covering the cost of water and electricity, and building latrines.
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Given its long-standing experience in conflict-stricken Mindanao, the organization was well prepared. “Over the past three years, we had set up water and sanitation facilities all over the island, in locations that we thought likely to receive displaced people. Indeed, those are the areas affected now,” recalls Perry Proellochs, ICRC delegate in Central Mindanao. “Thus people had access to our assistance even before we got there, and these facilities will be used in the weeks, months, and possibly years to come.”
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Even before the current crisis, ICRC delegates had set up water and sanitation facilities in locations thought likely to receive displaced persons. These proved invaluable when the crisis started, as people fleeing their homes were able to start using the facilities before any aid workers could arrive.
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These people have been living in cramped conditions ever since they fled the fighting between the Philippines armed forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front on 22 August.
The ICRC and the Philippine National Red Cross are supplying them with food and essential household goods.
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Elsewhere, people in need of help have to walk to ICRC distribution points because trucks carrying relief supplies can no longer use the muddy roads.
The ICRC has set up a warehouse in Davao from which it can deliver up to 3,000 food rations or kits of household essentials every day.
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Many people are now on the move for the third or fourth time in recent weeks, and most left home without even these basic items.
Together, the ICRC and the Philippine National Red Cross have been distributing food, hygiene kits, blankets and other essential household items to displaced people since the crisis started on 10 August.
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So far, there have been no epidemics among the displaced population, but the Philippine National Red Cross has been vaccinating children against measles. This is a vital precaution, as diseases can spread like wildfire when people are crammed together and measles can be fatal for a child weakened by living rough.
Since the beginning of the crisis on 10 August 2008, the ICRC has provided six health-care centres in Mindanao with medicines and supplies and has treated casualties of the fighting, displaced people and others.
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