Ireland sends further supplies to Philippines

Ireland has dispatched a further 16 tonnes of life-saving supplies to the Philippines, Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello, T.D., announced today.

The shipment of water and sanitation materials will help to protect vulnerable communities against disease in the worst-affected areas of the Philippines.

Further assessment of the needs on the ground will be made by the five members of Ireland’s Rapid Response who have deployed to assist UN agencies involved in the relief effort.

The team consist of one engineer, two electrical engineers, an information management officer and a civil-military coordination officer. They are supporting the work of the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs in the Philippines.

The shipment, from Irish Aid’s pre-positioned stocks in the UN’s Humanitarian Response Depot in Malaysia, will arrive in the  Philippines early tomorrow [Mon December 2]. In total 166 tonnes of materials have now been airlifted by Irish Aid to the region. Ireland’s total contribution to the Typhoon Haiyan relief effort stands at €3.62 million.
 
Amongst the stocks, which will be distributed by Plan Ireland from tomorrow, are:

•         9,000 jerry cans
•         6,500 mosquito nets
•         600 pickaxes and spades
•         50 water distribution ramps
•         24 5,000 litre water tanks
•         25 10,000 litre water tanks

Announcing the airlift, Minister Costello, said:

“This additional airlift is part of our overall support to our NGO partners working in the Philippines. These supplies will provide important water and sanitation services, which are vital to help protect the most vulnerable communities against disease.”

This latest shipment is worth more than €120,000.

Ends

1 December 2013
 
 
Note to Editors

•         Irish Aid is the Government’s overseas development programme. It is managed by the Development Cooperation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

•         Irish Aid has already provided over €3.6 million in support to the Typhoon Haiyan relief effort, including €2.6 million of funding through trusted NGO partners. In addition, three airlifts of €845,000 worth of emergency shelter supplies from our stocks in Dubai and Brindisi arrived in the Philippines on the 14th, 19th and 20th of November.

•        Through its Rapid Response Initiative, Irish Aid has established a strategic partnership with the World Food Programme, which manages the UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) Network. The Network maintains a stockpile of emergency humanitarian supplies in five hubs around the globe.  The hubs are in Accra, Brindisi, Dubai, Panama and Subang. 

•         Irish Aid maintains sufficient emergency stocks in the UNHRD hubs to have the capacity to respond to 55,000 beneficiaries.

•         The Rapid Response Corps is a roster of experienced humanitarian experts available to deploy at short notice in the event of a humanitarian emergency.

•         Individual members of the roster are deployed under the standby partnership programme with UN agencies (UNHCR, UNICEF, UNOCHA, and WFP) and other humanitarian organisations in need of their specific skills.