CARE Prepares Emergency Response to Typhoon Durian

(December 4, 2006) - CARE is mobilizing personnel and resources in the Philippines to provide emergency support in the wake of Typhoon Durian, which affected more than 800,000 people. "The Philippines have been hit repeatedly by typhoons in the last few months," says CARE's regional emergency coordinator, Wayne Ulrich. "But this has been fiercest so far."

As soon as the storm had passed, Ted Bonpin, CARE's country director in the Philippines, began surveying the destruction. He is now assessing damage in the remote island province of Catanduanes, where almost 90 percent of the houses in the south were destroyed. On Sunday, the Philippines President Gloria Arroyo declared the disaster a "state of national calamity." A CARE assessment team was already on the ground in Albay, one of the worst-hit provinces.

CARE is planning to dispatch emergency experts from other CARE offices in the region and from the CARE Emergency Group in Geneva to support emergency operations in the Philippines. We have joined the Mayon Disaster Response Network and other international and local NGOs in the Philippines working in the most affected areas. CARE is currently preparing projects to provide safe drinking water, food distribution and emergency shelter.

The typhoon, a Category 4 storm with winds exceeding 140 miles per hour, hit the Philippines on November 30, leaving more than 400 dead and nearly 600 others missing. The final death toll could be much higher. Roughly a third of the dead were killed in mudslides, triggered by torrential rains that produced more than 18 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. More than 16,000 people are currently housed in 100 evacuation centers. An estimated 28,000 houses were destroyed and at least 90,000 partially damaged in the storm. CARE's  long-term strategy will be to work through local partners to rehabilitate the worst hit areas.

Typhoon Durian has now left the Philippines and is heading for Vietnam. CARE's Vietnam country office are engaged in preparing an emergency response.