Typhoon Haiyan: How you can help
A handout picture released by the Malacanang Photo Bureau (MPB) shows Philippines' President Benigno Aquino III (L) distributing water to families displaced by Super Typhoon Haiyan that hit Leyte on 10 November 2013. The death toll from the super typhoon that decimated entire towns in the Philippines could soar well over 10,000, authorities warned, making it the country's worst recorded natural disaster (Photo: AFP/Ryan Lim/Malacanang photo bureau)
In response to the devastation that Typhoon Haiyan has inflicted in the Philippines, local and international relief is now pouring into the country to aid rescue efforts.
The typhoon, which struck on 9 November, has destroyed entire towns in the Philippines, with at least 10,000 casualties, and affecting over four million people.
The Singapore Government has donated $50,000 through Red Cross Singapore to help in relief efforts and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong released an official statement on 10 November 2013, expressing his condolences to President Aquino.
“The Singapore Civil Defence Force has despatched a team to Tacloban City to assist the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Activities in the rescue efforts. Please let me know if we can be of further help,” read the statement.
Two officers, who are info-communications specialist, were deployed there on 7 November and are working closely with relevant authorities to provide communications and technological support for the search and rescue efforts.
GUIDELINES ON WHAT TO GIVE
As donations pour in from around the world, donors should keep in mind to give responsibly and to give according to the immediate needs of the victims.
In an interview with abd-cbn news, secretary general of Philippines Red Cross, Gwendolyn Pang, encouraged people to give cash instead of food so that they can use the money to buy it in bulk.
Only clothes that are suited for the climate, and suited to be worn in an evacuation centre should be given.
In place of cosmetic soap, anti-bacterial and anti-dandruff soap should be given, because these are what they need.
As for food, only ready-to-eat ones should be given because of their lack of fresh water and gas required for cooking.
Members of the public interested in volunteering or donating can call the following relief agencies below. They are in the process of deploying and mobilising their relief efforts.
LOCAL AND REGIONAL RELIEF EFFORTS
Singapore Red Cross
The Singapore Red Cross has responded to the disaster by dispatching a team of volunteers to aid in relief efforts.
“The Singapore Red Cross (SRC) is contributing emergency relief supplies worth $100,000 for survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines,” wrote the administrators of the Singapore Red Cross in their media release.
Instructions for volunteers and donations can be found here.
Red Cross Singapore has also set up a 'Restoring Family Links' hotline for Singaporeans and Filipinos to contact their immediate family at 6664 0501/6664
0502.
Junior Chamber International (JCI) Manila
JCI Manila is a non-profit organisation which serves as a channel where Filipinos can come together to give back together to the society.
In response to Super Typhoon Haiyan, the organisation has rallied help over their Facebook pagefor people to send in donations, and various items necessities that people can contribute to relief efforts.
Singapore Embassy of the Philippines
The Singapore Embassy of the Philippines released a statement giving details of the agencies if members of the public wish to donate.
Banking details of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center (NDRRMC), the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) are given.
Donations of used clothing are discouraged and the best way of donating is via monetary means, the Embassy wrote.
SingPost
SingPost will be waiving the remittance fees of money going towards relief efforts of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines from now till 17 November through SingPost's remittance services with Banco De Oro (BDO) and the Philippine National Bank (PNB).
On top of that, a 60 per cent discount will be given to customers sending relief packages to the Phiippines via Speedpost EMS from now till 30 November 2013.
For more information, read their news release here.
Help Ormoc City
Ricardo Villacrucis, a Facebook user studying in Manila, Philippines, set up an online plea on the social media site for donations.
With the help of Anthony Suntay, people in Singapore can also contribute by sending their donations to 304 Orchard Road. #04-17 Lucky Plaza Singapore with the label, 'Inigo Larrazbal'.
The original Facebook post can be found here.
Clothes, blankets and slippers donation
'C GH Tan', a Facebook user posted a plea on his Facebook profile for people in Singapore to donate unwanted clothes, blankets and slippers to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.
In his message, he advised for people to bring them down to
INTERNATIONAL RELIEF EFFORTS
World Food Programme
The United Nations sent in 40,000 kg of fortified biscuits in the aftermath of the typhoon. The World Food Programme has also allocated US$2 million (S$2.5 million) for relief in the Philippines. The UN is also working with local authorities to restore emergency telecommunications in affected areas.
Donations can be made through here.
World Vision
The organisation is supporting relief efforts by providing essentials like blankets, mosquito nets, supply of clean water, hygiene kits and tents for the survivors.
To learn more about how you can help, and where the donations are going to, click here.
UNICEF
Donations to UNICEF will be going towards children who are desperately in need of shelter, clean water, and medicine and nutrition supplies.
Go here to find out more on what they are doing, click here.
Salvation Army
Donations to Salvation army will be immediately deployed to meet specific needs of survivors, excluding many of the costs associated with sorting, packing, transporting and distributing donated goods.
Learn more at Salvation Army’s website.
Google
In reponse to Typhoon Haiyan, Google has set up a ‘person finder’ function where people can search for people, or post up information of the location of anyone they know.
As donations pour in from all over the world, donors are encouraged to find out more about where the money is going to prior to donating.
Read more: Super typhoon Haiyan pounds Philippines
Super Typhoon Haiyan — which is one of the strongest storms in world history based on maximum windspeed — is about to plow through the Central Philippines, producing a potentially deadly storm surge and dumping heavy rainfall that could cause widespread flooding. The densely populated city of Manila, home to 12 million, is in the storm's path, although it is predicted to escape the worst of the winds and storm surge.
As of Thursday afternoon Eastern time, Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, had estimated maximum sustained winds of 195 mph with gusts above 220 mph, which puts the storm in extraordinarily rare territory. Since 1969, only three storms have had sustained winds close to this magnitude — Hurricane Camille in 1969, Super Typhoon Tip in 1979, and Hurricane Allen in 1980. No storm in the Atlantic has ever been stronger than Haiyan, accoring to The Weather Channel.
Haiyan is capable of causing catastrophic damage in the central Philippines and its outer bands are already starting to affect the island nation.
The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecasts that Haiyan will cross the Central Philippines as a Category 4 or 5 Super Typhoon, and then re-emerge over open water, before making landfall in Vietnam as a Category 3 typhoon on November 10.
Ryan Maue, a meteorologist at WeatherBELL Analytics, said that Haiyan appears to be the strongest storm since Super Typhoon Tip in 1979. Maue said the storm has avoided the typical hiccups that other intense storms encounter, such as eyewall replacement cycles, during which a storm's inner core undergoes a reorganization. Such cycles can cause a Category 5 storm to weaken to a Category 3 or 4 storm, before re-strengthening. Instead of doing this, though, Haiyan has remained at peak strength for more than 24 hours, which is unusual, and even strengthened on Monday morning.
After hitting the Leyte province, the Philippines' Department of Science and Technology expects the storm to traverse the central Philippines from Biliran to Busuanga before passing into the West Philippine Sea. The Department is warning coastal residents to expect storm surges "which may reach up to 7-meter (23 feet) wave height," along with flooding and mudslides. The storm poses an especially grave danger to the capital of Leyte, the city of Tacloban, which has about 220,000 people and lies along or just to the north of the storm's path where the most intense winds and storm surge will come ashore.
For the past 24 hours, the storm has remained at a strength close to the theoretical upper limit that cyclones can reach. Unlike in the tropical North Atlantic, there is no aircraft reconnaissance of tropical storms and typhoons in the Western Pacific, so the actual wind speeds and minimum central air pressure — two key parameters used to classify such storms — are being estimated using satellites.
Storm surge forecasts from the Philippines' Project NOAH indicate a maximum storm tide (storm surge plus the tide level) of 16.4 feet at Ormoc in Leyte Province on November 8, with 14-16 foot storm tides occurring in the provinces of Palawan, Quezon, Biliran, and others. The storm tide forecast for Manila is 5 feet, but the city is so low-lying that flooding may still occur there.
Sea level rise from global warming is escalating the risk posed by storm surges across the globe, including in low-lying areas of the Philippines.
Aiding the storm's development has been a plentiful supply of warm ocean waters, low atmospheric wind shear and plentiful amounts of warm, moist air surrounding the storm.
Chia-Ying Lee, a researcher at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society, told Climate Central in an email that Haiyan's moderate forward speed has prevented it from encountering the cooler ocean waters that its potent winds are stirring up from deep below the ocean's surface, which would have weakened the storm.
Lee said there have been 9 years that have had more than three super typhoons in the Western Pacific Ocean (equivalent to Category 4 and 5 hurricanes) for the period from 2002-2012. "So actually, having 3 or more super typhoons is quite common, at least in the last decade."
Lee said that Haiyan is unique in that it reached Category 5 strength at a very southern latitude, although it did not set a record for this. ". . . In general, a storm's movement has a northward component, (so) the longer it takes for the storm to reach Category 4 or 5, the further north it gets. For Haiyan, it went through a rapid intensification process and has not actually experienced any weakening stage, while lots of storms experienced ups and downs before reaching such a strong stage," she said.
The Western Pacific Ocean Basin has been far more active than the Atlantic Hurricane Season this year. Haiyan is the fourth Category 5 storm in the Western Pacific this year. There was also a Category 5 storm in the Eastern Pacific this year.
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Online and In-Kind Donations
Below you'll find a list of groups in the Phillippines that are accepting cash and in-kind donations to help with disaster relief efforts:
Monetary Donations
1. Bank Donations
| Account Name | Bank | Peso Account Number | Dollar Account Number | Branch | Type of Account | Swift Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNRC | The Philippine National Red Cross | METROBANK | 151-3-041-63122-8 | 151-2-151-00218-2 | Port Area Branch | SAVINGS | MBTC PH MM |
| BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS | 4991-0010-99 | Port Area Branch | CURRENT | ||||
| BANK OF THE PHIL. ISLANDS | 8114-0030-94 | UN Branch | SAVINGS | BOPI PH MM | |||
| ABS-CBN FOUNDATION | ABS-CBN Foundation Incorporation | BANCO DE ORO | 5630060113 | BDO Mother Ignacia | |||
| ABSCBN FOUNDATION - Sagip Kapamilya | ABSCBN FOUNDATION - Sagip Kapamilya | BANCO DE ORO | 39300-48145 | Sct. Albano Branch, Quezon Avenue | |||
| GMA KAPUSO FOUNDATION | GMA Kapuso Foundation, Inc. | METROBANK | 3-098-51034-7 | 2-098-00244-2 | SAVINGS | MBTC PH MM | |
| UCPB | 115-184777-2 | 01-115-301177-9 | SAVINGS | UCPB PH MM | |||
| UCPB | 160-111277-7 | 01-160-300427-6 | SAVINGS | UCPB PH MM | |||
| BANCO DE ORO | 469-0022189 | 469-0072135 | SAVINGS | BNORPHM | |||
| PNB | 121-0032000-17 | 121-0032000-25 | SAVINGS | PNB MPH MM | |||
| Corporate Network for Disaster Reponse | 0031 0654 02 | BPI Ayala Paseo Branch |
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