Philippines - Typhoon Washi

Thanks to generous donors and support from the Canadian International Development Agency, Oxfam is providing life-saving assistance to thousands of families affected by Typhoon Washi that hit Northern Mindanao, Philippines Dec. 16, 2011.

Oxfam aims to reach 35,000 people in the worst-hit cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. The typhoon caused landslides and flash floods in the middle of the night when most residents were asleep and most vulnerable, killing more than 1,200 people, injuring more than 4,600 and leaving thousands of families homeless. More than 1 million people were affected

Whole communities and masses of internally displaced persons were left in need of immediate, life-saving assistance including the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene promotion. In response, Oxfam is providing: 

• Improved access to safe drinking water for at least 7,000 households
• Better quality sanitation facilities through the construction of 80 latrine blocks, 40 shower blocks and 20 hand washing and laundry blocks in 20 evacuation centres, transitional sites and communities hosting evacuees
• Mobilization and materials needed to implement public health campaigns to reduce risk of water-borne diseases

At least half of the beneficiaries are girls and women. Vulnerable groups Oxfam is targeting include urban poor whose homes used to stand along the tributaries of the Cagayan River, which severely overflowed and caused flash floods; families headed by women, wage labourers, and those without access to land. Priority is given to women, children, the disabled, the elderly and the poorest.

Within 24 hours of the crisis, Oxfam and our national partner, the Humanitarian Response Consortium (five local humanitarian organizations),  deployed rapid assessment teams to the two cities that had never experienced large-scale emergencies in the past. There was a severe water shortage, due to damage and contamination, and a need for assistance in coping with the emergency.

Oxfam Canada is working with Oxfam Great Britain, as it has in the past in other countries, in partnership with local organizations selected on the basis of their geographical focus, technical competence and practical experience responding to disasters, particularly with Oxfam.