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

On 7 November, sets of relief items including foodstuffs such as rice, noodles and canned fish were sent from Manila to Catanduanes, an island in the disaster-hit Bicol region in the eastern part of the Philippines.

A truck load of relief supplies, which AMDA Philippines and AMSA Jonelta prepared, arrived at its destination on the following day although ships bound for the island were limited. The items, which had already been sorted into 263 sets in Manila, will be distributed by local volunteers to target households in the affected barangay (district).

Meanwhile, it was also decided that an additional relief effort would be carried out at another barangay on the island in response to a request made by AMDAs’ local contact who had collaborated with AMDA in the past. AMDA Philippines, AMSA Jonelta, AMDA Headquarters (Japan) and Catanduanes State University (to which the said contact person belongs) will be collaborating on this aid work. As of now, procurement of relief goods and logistics have been coordinated.

AMDA is also keeping a watchful eye on local weather conditions as Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said another typhoon, Vamco (Ulysses), is approaching the nation.

On the 10th, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) announced that the affected population totalled about 1.88 million around the country, leaving 25 people dead and 399 people injured. As for Catanduanes alone, 93,369 people are said to have been afflicted.

(More updates will follow.)