Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alert - Philippines - No 1/2000 Typhoons render thousands homeless Geneva, 10 November 2000
In a span of seven days two destructive typhoons have swept through the Bicol, Southern Tagalog, Metro Manila, Central and Northern Luzon and Eastern Visayas regions of the Philippines. Typhoon Reming (international code name Xangsane) left 40 people dead, 249 injured and 66 missing. The Office of Civil Defense reported that Xangsane caused extensive damage to property and infrastructure and forced more than 118,000 people to flee their homes. A total of 472,000 families or two million individuals were affected in nine regions. Typhoon Seniang (international code name Bebinca) struck the country on 2 and 3 November, less than a week after Typhoon Xangsane. Bebinca left 43 people dead and more victims of landslides and drowning were reported. It affected at least 127,000 families or 668,000 individuals in three regions. Both typhoons toppled tress, cut power lines, triggered landslides and flooded many areas. Many houses were totally damaged especially in the poor rural and urban areas. According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, statistics show that an average of three typhoons affect the Philippines in October, two in November and one in December. At present there is an active low pressure in the Southern Mindanao region. ACT member, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) has prioritised the Bicol Region along with Central and Southern Tagalog which were the most severely hit by the two typhoons. They have set up an emergency operations centre in Naga City to assist churches in the Bicol Region while the national office will assist Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog. An ACT appeal may be forthcoming. Thank you for your attention. For further information please contact: ACT Co-ordinator, Thor-Arne Prois (phone ++41 22 791 6033 or mobile phone ++ 41 79 203 6055) or ACT Appeals Officer, Neville Pradhan (phone ++41 22 791 6035 or mobile phone ++41 79 285 2916) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Action by Churches Together (ACT) is a worldwide alliance of churches and their related agencies, meeting human need through co-ordinated emergency response. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ecumenical Centre Phone: ++41-22-791.60.33 150, route de Ferney Fax: ++41-22-791.65.06 1211 Geneva 2 Telex: 415 730 OIK CH Switzerland http://www.act-intl.org distributed by - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Volunteers in Technical Assistance Disaster Information Center lists: www.vita.org/listsub.htm sitreps nat-dsr web: www.vita.org fireline - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -