简体中文
A senior official with the UN Development Program (UNDP) said here Monday that providing humanitarian relief to survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines remains a priority for the organization and its partners.
Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP's director of Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, made the remarks at a press conference on the beginning of the post-Haiyan recovery process.
Xu, who visited some of the storm-hit sites during his trip to the region last week, noted that the response to date after the devastating storm includes distributing food to 3 million people, providing shelter material to 10,000 families and vaccinating 60, 000 children against polio and measles.
"The goal of the recovery process is to help people return to normalcy by putting children back to schools, giving men and women jobs, re-opening hospitals and restarting the provision of public services," he said.
"This is the road to recovery. It will lead to building back resilient communities able to withstand future superstorms," he added.
Meanwhile, Xu said thousands of adults are being recruited for cash-for-work projects operated by UNDP as part of the response. According to him, these emergency employment schemes bridge the transition between the humanitarian phase and reconstruction.
Xu said the majority of the cash-for-work projects focus on removing debris and restoring livelihoods.
"The number of employed is growing by day ... Our goal is 10, 000 by the end of the year," he said.
In addition to cash-for-work, UNDP's early recovery plan includes providing start-up kits and quick grants for small business development, rehabilitating social and commercial infrastructure, and providing mobile saw mills and establishing workshops for carpenters to recycle timber into housing materials.
Xu stressed that the way forward "is to continue to work with our partners, civil society and private sector under the leadership of the government on building back stronger, more resilient communities."
"The road to recovery must also be the road to sustainability," he said. "But first, we start with debris removal through cash-for- work. Bucket by bucket, street by street, we will set these communities on the path to recovery and sustainable human development."
On the other hand,China on Monday provided a batch of payloaders which are badly needed in the clean-up of roads in typhoon-devastated areas in central Philippines as the country embarks on the road of reconstruction.
Three payloader trucks were handed over to the Philippine Red Cross Society (PRCS) at a ceremony at PRCS headquarters in Manila. They were donated by the Association of Chinese Enterprises (ACE) in the Philippines.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing said that this was additional assistance to central Philippine regions ravaged by typhoon Haiyan, or locally known as Yolanda, after the initial donation of 100,000 U.S. dollars, respectively, from the Chinese government and the Chinese Red Cross Society.
She said China's assistance to the Philippines is provided step by step. The 73 million Pesos (1.67 million U.S. dollars) worth of relief goods delivered to the Philippine side on Nov. 19. Later, a cargo of 37.8 million pesos worth of supplies arrived in Cebu on Nov. 21.
Apart from relief funds and materials, China has also dispatched three medical teams, including the country's largest hospital ship Peace Ark, to hardest-hit areas in Eastern Visayas including Tacloban city. Chinese doctors have received more than 3, 500 patients in the first seven days of operation. Two babies have so far been born on the hospital ship.
The Chinese people closely follow the rescue and reconstruction process at typhoon-hit areas and show their readiness in helping the Philippine people, she added.
In reply, PRCS Chairman Richard Gordon said "We thank the Chinese people for their generosity in giving much needed support to the Philippine Red Cross."
He revealed that the three payloaders will be used in road clean-up in worst-hit Tacloban city, and later be used in other natural calamities.
ACE Chairman Wang Yong said Philippine-based Chinese enterprises have exerted their efforts in helping typhoon victims starting from the day of typhoon's onslaught. The payloaders, valued at nearly 8 million pesos, were donated by the 40-plus members of the Chinese enterprises association.
Typhoon Haiyan has claimed 5,670 lives and injured 26,233 others, with 1,761 still missing. The affected population totaled 11 million, among which 4 million have been displaced. The Philippines has shifted its emphasis from rescue to reconstruction.
