MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), with RCBC, Fintech Alliance.PH, PayMaya, and other partners are calling for cash and in-kind donations for the communities that have been impacted by Typhoon Rai, locally known as Odette.
The 15th tropical cyclone in 2021, Typhoon Odette entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility last December 14 and has left a trail of destruction in its wake. According to the latest report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), more than 80,000 families (or more than 330,000 individuals) have been pre-emptively evacuated from Regions VI, VII, VIII, IX, and CARAGA. Bohol, Cebu, and Negros Oriental have experienced power interruptions.
Reports from the private sector indicate that five provinces are experiencing communication issues due to power failure. Seven airports have cancelled operations with 168 cancelled flights. There are 16 unavailable transmission lines in Visayas and Mindanao. According to DOST Region X, certain roads have been rendered impassable due to heavy flooding.
Immediate needs of affected families include food packs and ready-to-eat meals, drinking water, medicine, and medical personnel, personal protective equipment (PPE), clothing (including footwear and rain gear), cooking equipment and utensils, family kits with sleeping materials, shelter materials, hygiene kits, disaster kits, and go-bags.
As the country also recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of Tropical Storm Washi (local name Sendong), many evacuees are forced to relive the trauma of that event and require psychosocial support. There have also been requests for toys for the children and other Noche Buena items for the families to try and salvage their disrupted holiday celebrations as best as they can.
The PDRF Emergency Operations Center is closely monitoring the activity of the typhoon 24/7 and the team has been sending regular advisories and situational reports on the track of the storm.
For cash donations, visit this website: www.pdrf.org/how-you-can-help/ You may contact PDRF Cluster Coordinators Philline Cruz at 09186262309 and Nikka Villanueva at 09219243980 for in-kind donations.
