Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 November 2013
84. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has discussed with his counterparts in the EU Foreign Affairs Council and with the European Commission the need for the EU and the international community to respond with the utmost urgency to the current humanitarian crisis in the Philippines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49227/13]
View answerThe tropical cyclone 11 days ago was one of the strongest ever recorded. It is estimated that 13 million people or over 10% of the population of the Philippines were directly affected. I take the opportunity to compliment the Tánaiste and the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Joe Costello, on the rapid response of the Government in directing the release of very necessary aid funding. It was also heartening to see, at churches and other collection centres last weekend, the great response of the Irish people to this humanitarian disaster. I also compliment the Irish NGOs that are working with local sister organisations and have people working in the field. I commend them for their work.
Current estimates indicate that typhoon Haiyan has affected 13 million people across 41 provinces, representing over 10% of the country’s population, with up to 4 million people displaced. Official estimates indicate that at least 3,600 lives have been lost. However, it is likely that the full picture of the human cost of the disaster will only emerge in the coming days as relief teams get to remote areas which are without power and communications following one of the most powerful storms ever recorded.
Despite the many logistical challenges to the relief effort, the response of the international community has been rapid, with a large UN Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination, UNDAC, team and a team of experts from the European Commission’s Directorate for Humanitarian Assistance and Civil Protection, ECHO, being deployed to assist the national authorities to assess the impact of the disaster as early as Friday, 8 November.
A UN flash appeal was jointly launched by the United Nations and the Government of the Philippines on Tuesday, 12 November. This appeal calls for funding of just over US $300 million to cover immediate emergency relief and continued support for the affected populations in the coming six months. To date, US $78 million or 26% of the funds requested under this appeal have been received. Ireland will examine the potential for contributions, within our means, to the relief programmes identified within the appeal.
While the situation in the Philippines was not on the agenda for yesterday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council, the meeting did provide me with the opportunity to hear from my EU counterparts on the wider EU response to the crisis. In the light of her visit to the Philippines over the weekend, I also availed of the opportunity to receive a briefing from the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, on her impressions of the situation and her views on the manner in which the response was being co-ordinated. My officials are in regular contact with ECHO and, in particular, the EU Emergency Response Centre. The European Union has made available €10 million in emergency funding to support the immediate relief efforts in the areas worst affected by the typhoon and pledged a further US$40 million in longer term development assistance to assist with the Philippines’ efforts to recover from this devastating disaster.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
For our part, Ireland was among the first countries to respond to the disaster and, on the basis of pledges announced to date, our contribution currently stands as one of the highest amounts provided by a bilateral donor. On Sunday, 10 November, the Government announced emergency funding from Ireland of €1 million towards the relief effort for typhoon Haiyan. One week later, as the magnitude of the disaster became apparent, this sum was increased to €2.25 million. A separate dispatch of over 100 tonnes of essential shelter items for distribution to families worst affected by the disaster, to the value of €510,000, was also authorised. Ireland’s airlift of these relief items was among the first delivered to the Philippines, arriving in Cebu on Wednesday, 13 November.
Irish Aid is preparing for a further airlift of essential shelter and water and sanitation items in the coming days. My officials are also in daily contact with UNOCHA, UNICEF and the WFP on requirements for deployment of technical experts from the Irish Rapid Response Corps. An Irish captain and engineer in the Defence Forces was deployed on 17 November to support the WFP’s operations in the Philippines and an information management specialist was deployed on the same day to support UNICEF’s operations. We expect further deployments in the coming days. In addition, we have authorised the release of €425,000 in funding which had been pre-positioned with trusted NGO partners for sudden onset emergencies such as this. That brings the total sum of Ireland’s contributions to date to over €3 million.
I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. It is welcome that the matter was discussed at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting; it should be on the agenda for forthcoming meetings for some time to come. The typhoon hit the Philippines one month after a major earthquake, measuring 7.2, which directly affected 350,000 people. This shows how disaster prone the country is, with two major disasters in a single year. Is the Tánaiste confident about the capacity of the United Nations to co-ordinate the relief efforts in an effective and timely manner? While it is welcome that there seems to have been a significant improvement in the relief efforts in recent days, it has been reported that up to 600,000 people have not yet been reached with food, which is a frightening prospect. It seems that those in very remote regions have not yet received direct assistance. We must remember that we are talking about very vulnerable people, including children, pregnant women, the elderly and people who are sick. I have tabled this question in order to highlight the need to ensure added impetus is given to the co-ordination of relief efforts by the United Nations and the international community.
I acknowledge what the Deputy said about the Irish response to this disaster. We were one of the first countries to respond officially and I agree with him about the generous response last Sunday in churches and the generous response of the NGOs. On the basis of the pledges announced to date, our contribution currently stands as one of the highest provided by a bilateral donor. On Sunday, 10 November the Government announced emergency funding from Ireland of €1 million towards the relief effort. A week later, as the magnitude of this disaster became apparent, this sum was increased to €2.25 million. A separate dispatch of more than 100 tonnes of essential shelter items for distribution to families worst affected by the disaster to the value of €510,000 was also authorised. Ireland's airlift of these relief items was among the first to be delivered to the Philippines, arriving in Cebu on Wednesday, 13 November.
While it is obvious and necessary that our focus should be on the immediate needs of the people, there is a longer term need for continued assistance. In one remote region, 90% of the people have lost their livelihood. They were in the fishing industry and all their boats were smashed. They are totally dependent on fishing for their income. Will the Tánaiste ensure that the needs of the people in this region are not forgotten when the immediate crisis eases?
They will not be forgotten. There is a plan. Approximately 500,000 people are in need of immediate water, sanitation and hygiene supplies. Essential health services are being provided for almost 10 million people, along with nutrition services for 100,000 children and 60,000 mothers, and shelter and urgent household items for 560,000 people. The work is being co-ordinated by UN agencies, and clusters have been identified for the co-ordination of the entire effort at both field and global levels. These include nutrition, which is the domain of the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF; health, which is the domain of the World Health Organization, WHO; water and sanitation, which is under UNICEF; emergency shelter, which is the area dealt with by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; camp co-ordination and management, which is under the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration; protection, which is under the UNHCR and UNICEF; early recovery, which is under the UN Development Programme; logistics, which is under the World Food Programme, WFP; and emergency telecommunications, which is under UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNICEF and WFP.
A co-ordinated effort is operating through the UN agencies. We are working with them and the NGOs. This was the worst typhoon on record and an ongoing body of work will have to be undertaken over a long period.
