On the road to recovery: Philippines one year on

Typhoon Haiyan, which ripped through the Philippines on 8^th November 2013, was one of the worst storms in recorded history, claiming 6,300 lives and displacing over 4 million people. 

 

As one of the world's foremost providers of emergency relief, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had dispatched teams to the affected areas within a day of the super typhoon making landfall. A year later, MSF has published a special report, “The Philippines: One Year after Typhoon Haiyan”, on our humanitarian activities in the Philippines in response to this large-scale natural disaster. 

 

A snapshot of MSF's primary relief activities in the aftermath of Haiyan include:

 

MSF sent 1,855 tonnes of cargo and deployed almost 800 relief workers to the Philippines at the height of our response. This large-scale action was enabled by the generosity and compassion of our donors, and MSF is deeply grateful to all our supporters worldwide. Internationally, MSF raised a total of 32.4 million euros for the Typhoon Haiyan. We spent about 24.62 million euros in the Philippines between 2013 and 2014, and a further 3.25 million euros has been allocated to cover our ongoing work there in 2015 and 2016. This still means however that there is a portion of the money that was originally donated to help in this emergency that will not be needed to complete the projects in the Philippines. HKD 1.5 million raised by MSF Hong Kong will therefore be diverted to combatting the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

 

If donors have any question of this funding allocation, please call us at (852) 2338 8277. 

 

The Haiyan disaster phase was declared over by July 2014, but MSF continued its work to meet gaps in medical needs and to rehabilitate the local health infrastructure. MSF has gradually reduced its staff on the ground, but today is still involved in providing maternal and neo-natal healthcare in Leyte Island, and in supporting several hospitals in both Samar and Leyte.