Philippines flood response boosted with $4.9 million from the CERF

15 July 2011: Severe flooding in the Philippines led the Emergency Relief Coordinator to allocate $4.9 million from the CERF’s rapid response window to address the most urgent life-saving humanitarian needs. The southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines experienced extraordinary rainfall and flooding in May and July. At least 900,000 people were affected and more than 70,000 were displaced from their homes. Many among Mindanao’s population are already vulnerable due to ongoing conflict, while a series of earlier storms had already weakened the Government’s capacity to respond.

The World Food Programme (WFP) was provided with $1.5 million, allowing it to provide emergency food for nearly 500,000 flood-affected people. WFP received a further $200,000 to provide logistics support, including transportation and warehousing, to humanitarian agencies involved with the response. Almost $1.5 million was allocated to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), allowing it to deploy teams to monitor the humanitarian needs of those displaced by the flooding, distribute non-food items (including shelter materials, cooking equipment and mosquito nets), and repair and install water and sanitation facilities.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) used $1.4 million of CERF funding to screen children in flood-affected communities for malnutrition and carry out therapeutic feeding for children with severe acute malnutrition, as well as pregnant women and mothers with babies. CERF funding also enabled UNICEF to distribute safe water, install and repair water supplies, and provide adequate sanitation in areas where the displaced population were sheltering.