AFP spokesman Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan said 17 foreign armed forces, including the United States which has brought in several ships, are helping in the delivery of relief supplies to the victims.
He said other foreign countries that have sent military personnel and assets to the country are Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Israel, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
Tutaan said the plan is to scatter these foreign troops so that all areas are serviced. American forces will reportedly focus in the worst-hit Tacloban City, Ormoc City and Guiuan town in Samar.
“There are too many of them, there are plenty of them so we have to orchestrate, so that there will be synchronization of efforts,” said Tutaan.
Yolanda hit nine regions after it made landfall on November 8, including three in the Visayas, with Tacloban the worst hit. Yolanda also left 3,982 dead. At least 1,600 are missing. Authorities continue to recover bodies and are planning to dig a new mass grave.
President Aquino returned to Manila yesterday afternoon after three days of visiting some of the devastated areas in Samar and Leyte.
Upon arrival at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, he proceeded to Pier 15 in Manila to inspect the loading of relief goods to ships that would take these to the typhoon victims.
Aquino earlier said that he would return to Manila only after he is satisfied with the situation on the ground, including relief and rebuilding efforts.
“The President noted the significant improvement in the situation. But of course, there is much work left to do,” said Ramon Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Strategic and Planning Office.
He said Aquino also has a number of important meetings in Manila, including a budget meeting.
Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, commander of the military’s Central Command based in Cebu City, said the plan is to divide up the typhoon-hit areas and decide which military forces operate where, so that relief efforts would be maximized.
“We’re planning to ask the British Royal Navy to concentrate on the Western Visayas region to assess and deliver food, water and supplies to smaller islands... We already have the Americans in Samar and Leyte and Israeli doctors and relief teams in the northern tip of Cebu,” he said.
About 50 US ships and aircraft have been mobilized in the disaster zone, led by the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The USS Freedom, a combat ship for coastal waters, arrived in Brunei on Monday en route to the Philippines.
A British destroyer anchored off Cebu and its helicopters were flying mercy missions to smaller islands, Deveraturda said. Once a larger British carrier arrived with seven helicopters, that would be the best platform for relief for the Western Visayas. A Canadian team with a C10 plane has been operating in and around the western island of Iloilo.
“We are doing another assessment of the affected areas to determine the needs and match them with our available resources. For instance, we have three Japanese ships with ground mobility and heavy equipment arriving in several days and we’ll look at where and how they would be effective,” Deveraturda said.
ORCHESTRATING EFFORTS
Tutaan said the Philippine and foreign armed forces are organized under Joint Task Force Yolanda which was activated last Saturday. A multinational coordinating center was also put up in Camp Aguinaldo to coordinate the efforts. The task force and the coordinating center are headed by AFP vice chief Lt. Gen. Alan Luga.
“The general intent is to orchestrate all our efforts,” he said.
He said the task force was established also to “prevent a duplication of efforts, thereby not leaving any areas not being service.”
The task force and the center will be coordinating with the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Coordinating Council “to better synchronize and systematize the collusion of efforts,” he said.
“The primordial concern is to be able to bring the necessary relief and other necessities for the victims of typhoon Yolanda, to where it is needed. This is part of the national government’s efforts in order that all areas will be addressed and will be serviced as soon as possible and to start off later on probably, in the very near future, with rehabilitation efforts,” said Tutaan.
‘OVERWHELMING’ SUPPORT
The United Nations has expressed fears that some islands may still not have been reached by aid workers, but the government denied this.
“Basically, we’ve provided everyone with relief. What we are doing right now is sustainment,” said Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
He said government is getting “overwhelming” support from the international community.
“We are now in the early recovery and rehabilitation phase,” said Del Rosario, adding the recovery and rehabilitation effort overlaps with the ongoing relief operations.
“While the relief operation is ongoing, we’re proceeding with the early recovery and the rehabilitation phase. While we are on the rehabilitation phase, we can undertake relief operation,” said Del Rosario
The government said on Tuesday 24,770 personnel, 1,306 vehicles, 104 ships and boats and 163 aircraft had been deployed. A total of 88 medical teams, 43 foreign and 45 local, have spread out across the region.
Asif Ahmad, the British ambassador to the Philippines, said the relief operations could last months, if not longer.
“How long would it take to grow a coconut tree?” he asked.
NEW GRAVE SITE
Authorities are considering putting up a new grave site in Tacloban City to accommodate more cadavers that are expected to be recovered.
“The grave site is almost filled. That’s why we’re planning to excavate (a new one) near the burial site,” said Senior Supt. Pablito Cordeta, commander of the Task Force Cadaver which is in charge of recovering bodies.
Cordeta, director of the Bureau of Fire Protection in the Eastern Visayas, said the task force recovered 151 bodies in various sites Monday, and these were buried in the mass grave in Barangay Diit.
“Up to this day, our recovery operation is ongoing and we have information that many are still to be recovered in the area,” he said.
Last Saturday, the task force recovered 780 bodies, and 125 on Sunday.
Aquino, before leaving for Manila, Aquino ordered officials to set up a tent city in Basey town, Western Samar for displaced residents.
From Basey, Aquino proceeded to Ormoc City and inspected the damage to the airport and the city hall. He also met with local officials.
He said he would return to Ormoc in a week and hold meetings with his Cabinet members on concrete actions that can be done for the city.
He also returned to Tacloban City and had a closed-door meeting with local government officials led by Mayor Alfred Romualdez, before returning to Manila.
‘BETTER’
Mayor Romualdez said “things are getting better” for the residents.
He said there had been difficulties in transporting the relief supplies. But now aid is coming to the city and distribution of food packs is fast, he said.
Romualdez, however, said he could not be sure if all families have been given relief goods. He said some families do not go to barangay halls when goods are being distributed. Some others go to barangays to which they do not belong. To avoid trouble, he said, personnel from the social welfare department give goods to everyone.
He said drinking water is also now available as water purifiers have been sent to identified areas.
He said what the city needs are more portalets.
Tecson John Lim, city administrator of Tacloban, said the national government has been trying to do its best.
“The President has been through a lot. Perhaps some of the things he mentioned might not have been exactly prudent,” he said. “... I think he has seen and is learning to put this aside, whatever biases he might have had.”
‘MANY MORE PEOPLE’
The World Food Programme said it had reached 1.9 million people in need of food. “The reality is we know that there are many more people who have been impacted by the storm,” said executive director Ertharin Cousin.
“We knew that there were at least 2.5 million (in need of food) when we performed our initial assessment.”
Medecins Sans Frontieres painted a bleak picture across the Visayas, especially in Leyte.
In the hardest-hit city, Tacloban, it was clearing a car park to set up a tent hospital which should be up and running within days.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona said government is exerting efforts to ensure access to medical services, supplies, and even newborn care.
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