Super Typhoon to hit Philippines

Recent pics from Malapascua

https://picasaweb.google.com/108415...&authkey=Gv1sRgCOjMs_qKvuDRPw&feat=directlink

Absolute devastation. We know aid is being delivered out there by Filipino organisations.

"It took 9 days but all 40 municipalities of Leyte now have access to relief supplies.

In a press release on Sunday, November 17, Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas said local officials in the towns of Hilongos and Palompon were finally able to touch base with the government's logistics hub in Ormoc.

“Now we can say that all towns in Leyte have been supplied with relief goods," Roxas said.

Earlier, the government established relief hubs in Ormoc City in Leyte and Guiuan in Eastern Samar, in addition to Tacloban City, in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

For Leyte, the distribution of relief goods has been divided into two – 24 towns will get their supplies from Tacloban, while 16 towns will receive their supplies from Ormoc. All hubs are open 24/7.

Leyte was one of the provinces that suffered the brunt of Typhoon Yolanda. Out of the 3,681 people who died due to Yolanda as of Sunday, 3,017 individuals came from Leyte.

Gov't speeds up relief efforts

In the aftermath of the typhoon, the Aquino administration came under fire for the slow delivery of relief services. On the 6th day of the calamity, the United Nations also admitted its frustration over the fact that even international agencies have not managed to reach all affected areas.

As relief goods poured in, the delivery of massive food supplies started speeding up on Saturday, the 8th day of the calamity.

Roxas said the logistics hubs in Tacloban and Ormoc were able to distribute a total of 114,438 food packs on Saturday – more than twice the amount delivered on Friday (45,162 food packs) and Thursday (15,447 food packs).

The food packs include 6 kilos of rice, 6 canned goods (3 sardines, 3 corned beef), 8 instant noodles and 6 sachets of coffee. Roxas said each food pack is designed to last for 2-3 days for a family of 5.

In Leyte, food and other supplies are either picked up by local officials or delivered to evacuation centers.

On Saturday, however, only 32 Leyte towns were supplied with relief goods. Roxas said officials from these municipalities ran out of fuel and could not pick up their supplies.

“Local officials regulary get their supplies everyday but they were not able to return yesterday because some of them ran out of fuel, while the vehciles of others stalled," Roxas said.

The devastation caused by Typhoon Yolanda has prompted widespread relief efforts across the country and around the globe. As of Friday, various counties have pledge at least P5.4 billion or US$126.8 million worth of donations."

Source:-
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issue...te-towns-day-9

Whats this about the Philippine government taking the incoming internationally sourced aid packs and repackaging them with their own name on?

I don't know, but CNN fell victim to a spoof video that suggested that - they have retracted it.

Some comments on FB (make of that what you will) are alluding that they are repackaging into DSWD bags and removing some of the original contents to boot.

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2...-relief-goods-volunteers-complaint-goes-viral

This story?

I recall (and I may well be out of date) that US MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) are packed in cardboard boxes and come in foil/paper packaging, unlike UK army ration packs which are in a cardboard box but are tinned.

Given the rainfall expected and the lack of shelter, it makes sense to repack these in plastic bags.

Yes, I believe that was the one referred to on FB.

The repackaging may well be genuine but seems there's an innate distrust of those in power. Social media may help to keep those things in the public's consciousness and keep those that be, in check.

There was a picture that came out of yellow packets of noodles bearing PNoy's name with yellow ribbon... apparently these pics were from 2009 whereupon seeing them the then senator ordered his name removed from the packs... This picture is now gone viral bad CNN found them out to be false after reporting on them... They promptly removed them from their site...

There is a distrust of those in power anyway, and in this case it is fuelled by the intense rivalry between the Aquino-Cojuanco and the Marcos-Romualdez dynasties.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1061749?ref=feeds/latest

At least two of the pictures are years old - the Korina Sanchez yellow slippers (actually distributed to children in Manila) and the Aquino yellow ribbon instant noodles (reputedly from 2009 - and done without his permission). I have not been able to source the Binay pic.

Here is a happier story:

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/how-entire-island-of-cebu-survived-yolanda-s-wrath-010035215.html

Even this is not politics-free- it has been remarked on that the President commended the Mayor (in effect a sideswipe at Mayor Romualdez of Tacloban) "Even though the Mayor is not a Liberal! (!)

From August 2012:

http://mytintinnabulary.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/the-yellow-noodles/

Bloody right! That is QUITE an eye opener.

This account is quintessentially "provincial Filipino" in every detail. Frankie Jose would have disnmissed it as too corny. Its a gem - the quarrel over the bar girl, the refrigerator of beer opened by the only woman (lowest in the tree!) with her feet, the one bakla, the child saved and the child swept away...

http://www.mb.com.ph/beer-saves-6-while-clinging-to-a-tree-at-height-of-storm/

Expat friends on Cebu report that the ferry companies are charging Php3,000 to those wishing to flee Ormoc instead of the usual Php300, that aid shipments are being held in Customs and that emergency relief supplies from overseas are being repacked into bags with either a Senator's name or with the name of a government department. However aid bags donated by Davao City simply said "You are not forgotten by the people of Davao City"; no political message at all.

Re-packaging bags and increasing ferry prices makes me sick