IsraAid, a leading Israeli humanitarian organization, has sent manpower and equipment to the Philippines in wake of a tropical storm that claimed at least 126 lives and displaced tens of thousands of families.
By Aryeh Savir, TPS
An Israeli emergency organization with global reach has deployed teams to the Philippines following Tropical Depression Usman, which wreaked havoc in the country and killed at least 126 people.
The tropical storm caused flooding, landslides and the displacing of more than 75,000 families.
The Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported that some 30 people remained missing while dozens of others were injured.
IsraAID Philippines has deployed an emergency response team to the Sagnay municipality in the Camarines Sur province to conduct a rapid-needs assessment and provide urgent relief items as well as psychological support to those affected.
The emergency-response team, consisting of Israeli and Filipino staff members, and volunteers from IsraAID Philippines, will “conduct a rapid-needs assessment, distribute urgently needed relief items, improve access to safe water and offer psychological support to the affected population. The team is on its way to the Sagñay municipality in the Camarines Sur province, one of the worst-hit areas,” the organization stated in a press release.
“Amid mass evacuations, a rising death toll and severe infrastructural damage following the tropical depression, communities in Camarines Sur are in need of support,” said IsraAID co-CEOs Yotam Polizer and Navonel Glick. “This is the second storm that IsraAID Philippines has responded to in the past year, in addition to half a decade of experience working in the country.”
Over the past year, IsraAID has provided disaster relief to communities affected by hurricanes throughout the US and by wildfires in Santa Rosa, California, as well as natural disasters in the Philippines and even Indonesia.
