Association of Medical Doctors of ASIA, founded in 1984, Consultative Status with UN ECOSOC since 1995

  

On December 12th, a joint relief team comprising staff members from AMDA, WiNDS (Women in National Development and Security) and Philippine Navy Reserve Command set itself to provide food supply at the town of Victoria located in Northern Samar, a town in which AMDA had conducted aid work four years ago at the time of 2015 Typhoon Nona.

After arriving in Victoria, what struck the eyes of the relief personnel was an appalling view of collapsed buildings and fallen power poles due to storm and high tide. A local official said the town had been faced with lack of food supply although some aid had begun reaching the area. While power and water outages were taking a toll on people’s lives, many of those who fled their homes had been seeking shelter at their relatives’ houses.
 
The aid workers cooperated with local residents to prepare a set of food items for 1,070 households. For the next two days, the goods were provided to 16 districts (among which half of the distribution was commissioned to local community leaders) which enabled 993 households to benefit from the assistance as a whole. During the aid work, the town mayor shook hands with the relief personnel to convey his gratitude.
 
In some areas, the tide washed away everything from people’s houses, personal belongings to fishing boats that are crucial for those who make a living from fishery. Some said flood water had even affected the evacuation shelters, eventually forcing them to stay off the wet floors and sleep on chairs instead.

 

The joint relief team completed the mission and withdrew from Victoria on December 15th. However, AMDA will closely monitor the situation as it should take a certain amount of time until people’s lives get normalized.

As of December 13th, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said close to 60,000 people were still being displaced around the nation.