Action Against Hunger To Assist 11,000 Victims of Philippines Floods

As the Philippines struggles to cope with the aftermath of devastating floods last weekend, Action Against Hunger | ACF International’s emergency response teams are set to help more than 11,000 people. 

Teams on the ground are preparing to provide families in the worst-hit province of Cagayan de Oro with clean water, hygiene kits and essential items, and are ready to scale up emergency nutrition programmes if the situation worsens.
 
125,000 people have been made homeless by the floods and families are in urgent need of clean water, blankets, mosquito nets, sleeping bags and materials for shelter. Evacuation centres are packed with families, and improving sanitary conditions to prevent the spread of disease is essential. 

“The first priority, in addition to clean water, is improving the hygiene conditions in evacuation centres, where thousands of people are gathered,” said Marta Val, Water and Sanitation Coordinator for Action Against Hunger’s emergency response team in the Philippines. “In normal conditions, good hygiene is essential to stay healthy, and in a situation like this where huge amounts of people are concentrated, it is paramount to step up hygiene measures to prevent an epidemic from occurring.” 

The Philippines is one of the world's most recurrent natural disaster spots and proof that prevention and preparedness must be a key priority for development.

Action Against Hunger has been present in the region of Mindanao for ten years, implementing water and sanitation programmes as well as food security and disaster prevention programmes. As such, ACF’s teams were well placed to launch an immediate emergency response when the floods hit. 
 
Eric Fort, Country Director for Action Against Hunger in the Philippines, said: "Today more than ever we must insist on the need to invest in disaster preparedness. The typhoon beat Manila with the same intensity as in the north, but thanks to a powerful communication system, people were alerted and prepared and so the damage was much lower."