[WSIS CS-Plenary] [Amarc-info] Appeal for help for flood victims in the Philippines

Tue Sep 29 17:34:55 BST 2009

Dear friends and colleagues,

This is an appeal for help for the thousands in the Philippines who have 
suffered from typhoon Ondoy and the resulting floods on Saturday. Our 
colleague Bianca Miglioretto who lives in Manila has informed of the 
urgent need for dry clothes, drinking water, food and blankets and money 
for medication and health services for people in Metro Manila, Southern 
Tagalog and Central Luzon.

Bianca wrote:

“In one community alone GABRIELA- a local grassroots women's 
organisation engaged in relief found that they had 29 dead and the 
numbers was rising and over a hundred were missing. It seems that the 
government’s estimates of only about 20 missing in all of Metro Manila 
is highly underestimated. People have also died in the hospitals because 
services were disengaged due to lack of electricity. There was no 
evacuation plan, not even a warning before the Manila Water company 
opened the water reservoirs dams (two big artificial lakes) as they were 
threatening to burst. This caused a sudden flash flood and rudely 
surprised so many taking lunch. While the natural disaster was bad a lot 
of the casualties and sufferings could have been avoided, if the 
authorities had done their jobs and the money for weather forecast 
equipment and flood warning systems downstream of the dams did not 
disappear in corruption. It makes one so angry and sad. Why didn't they 
slowly release water the day before the typhoon, the warnings were all 
over the media??? I was busy yesterday generating donations from Europe 
and am proud to report that within 24 hours we could generate 2000 US$, 
which I passed on to the GABRIELA relief drives today. Now immediate 
help is needed, as government relief goods and international relief 
goods take time if they ever come. People need dry clothes, drinking 
water, food and blankets and money for medication and health services. 
Some women were complaining that there were no panties among the donated 
clothes and they had not been able to change their wet and dirty panties 
since Saturday!!!”

Below is a call for donations from GABRIELA Women's Party. Attached is 
an up-date on the needs by the women in the different urban poor 
communities gathered by GABRIELA organisers. Some communities can still 
not be reached for relief drives as the streets are still flooded and 
need to be cleared from mud. GABRIELA Women's Party installed a PayPal 
account so that you can donate by credit card online. If you wish to 
make a donation, just go on www.paypal.com <http://www.paypal.com> tick 
"send money"' open your account and you can donate directly to GABRIELA 
Women's party. You can also make bank transfers and the details are 
given in the GABRIELA appeal below. They are really doing great work 
directly with the women organisations in the affected communities and 
they were among the first ones to respond to the calls for support.

Should you want to contact Bianca, her email address is: 
bianca at isiswomen.org <mailto:bianca at isiswomen.org>.

I thank you in advance for your support.

With warmest regards,

Suman

___________________

Suman Basnet
Regional Coordinator
AMARC Asia Pacific
Kathmandu, Nepal
Phone: +977 1 5554811
Fax: +977 1 5521714
www.asiapacific.amarc.org

_____________________________

*/Urgent Action Alert - A Relief Drive and Mission for the Victims of 
Typhoon Ondoy/*

27 September 2009

Dear friends, sisters and fellow Filipinos,

Typhoon “Ondoy” that hit Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog and Central 
Luzon, Philippines on Saturday, September 26, 2009 left over 100 persons 
killed and thousands of people homeless. The number of affected families 
across Luzon has swelled to 69, 513 or more than 337,000. The partial 
total number of evacuees has also reached 11,967 families or about 
59,920 people. They are now staying in 118 evacuation centers in Metro 
Manila and other parts of Luzon. Women, children and elderly people are 
the most affected. Many people still need to be rescued from the flooded 
villages. The number of casualties may still rise due to hunger, cold, 
and diseases if they are not given immediate attention.

Damage to properties is still undetermined. Rushing flood waters in 
villages hit by Typhoon Ondoy reached rooftops covering bungalow type 
houses and sweeping away urban poor communities. Those affected did not 
have time to rescue their belongings but only the soaked clothes they 
were wearing when the flood waters hit their villages. It will be years 
before they will be able to rebuild their lives. The Office of 
Congresswoman Liza Maza is doing its share in the RELIEF OPERATIONS that 
are now being conducted in evacuation areas and in many flooded 
communities. Our constituents are among those affected by typhoon Ondoy. 
They need food, clothes, blankets, and medicines. Trauma counselling 
will also be conducted soon.

The Office of Congresswoman Liza Maza and the Gabriela Women’s Party is 
appealing to your kind support for the victims of typhoon Ondoy. We are 
launching this drive to gather support for the victims of typhoon Ondoy!

Please give your support and save thousands of lives. For cash/check 
donations please deposit to:

US Dollar Savings Account:
c/o Rosario T. Padilla, Banco de Oro, SM City North EDSA, Quezon City, 
Philippines
Savings Account No. 0250931842
Swift Code: BNORPHMM
Philippine Peso Current Account: c/o Rep. Liza Maza
Land Bank of the Philippines, Batasan Branch,Quezon City, Philippines
Current Account # 3125-0054-61

For clothes, blankets, and medicine, toiletries, please send to:

c/o Office of Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza, Gabriela Women’s Party 
Headquarters, 118 Scout Rallos St., Barangay Sacred Heart, Quezon City, 
Philippines

Through our */Bayanihan /*(spirit of unity), we hope to contribute to 
the efforts of all sectors, institutions and individuals in mobilizing 
resources for the immediate relief of our fellow Filipinos. Thank you 
very much.

Sincerely yours,

REP. LIZA MAZA
Gabriela Women's Party

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