Well we have had a little contact from our family in the city and I can tell you that there are not enough boots on the ground yet and there just isn't enough food and water getting through.
The San Jose airport that is the main and only hub has very little aid in at the moment. Organization is very, very poor. The roads are obviously blocked by people trying to make it to the airport to escape.
There is a limited amount of flights each days but some survivors are getting out on the C130's that fly back to Manila and Cebu for more supplies. The flights stop through the night because of destroyed power on the ground.. There are a lot of dead but there are a lot of survivors to that need assistance.
Lets hope the international ships, carriers, troops and aircraft arrive soon and an start distribution as if not anarchy will eventually take control. At the moment there are many communities banding together however there are so many people who have lost everything, have had no food or water for 2-4 days that they are hunting for any food. God only knows what it must be like outwith the city. With an organised military and police presence and designated distribution points when air actually arrives things could be stabilized very quickly and then medical, shelters etc would be able to be brought in. There is a curfew in the city but life is very desperate as you can imagine.
I would guess that a ship will be placed off the shore of each effected area and then things will hopefully change.
There are some stupid things happening that should be controlled at a government level. The route to Manila is clear however is a long haul and instead of a red eye military supply there appears to be as well as the needed aid workers and essential staff a flow of family members looking for loved ones. I totally understand this however any new none essential person is another mouth to feed. Some of Mai's friends who are nurses have headed for Manila and will enter with the aid convoys.
There is another smaller typhoon heading to the region tomorrow and more rain fell last night than on the evening of Typhoon.
Sorry for the bleak picture but this is the facts from down on the ground in Taloban. The city is gone, pretty much every building is gutted or washed out. The luckier families have structures no roof. My wifes family all left their houses for the old family home and have tried to put together a makeshift roof.
Thank you for your time,
1 extra point: (apparently, I'll withhold judgement on this) Philippine airlines were doing flights in and out and were ### charging for the flights out. All the millions of aid sent internationally and they are charging survivors!?!?!? if so they are a shower of of B's!!! (I'm sorry for the language) There are no points to access money even if the survivors had managed to hold onto their bank cards etc when they were swimming for their lives. Price 1800-2000 Philippine pesos has been said from our family within the city. The C130 were obviously not charging and
neither was Cebu Pacific. I think the US Marines are now administering the airport so I can see it only being aid /military flights.
There are lines of people stretching out from the airport.
The San Jose airport that is the main and only hub has very little aid in at the moment. Organization is very, very poor. The roads are obviously blocked by people trying to make it to the airport to escape.
There is a limited amount of flights each days but some survivors are getting out on the C130's that fly back to Manila and Cebu for more supplies. The flights stop through the night because of destroyed power on the ground.. There are a lot of dead but there are a lot of survivors to that need assistance.
Lets hope the international ships, carriers, troops and aircraft arrive soon and an start distribution as if not anarchy will eventually take control. At the moment there are many communities banding together however there are so many people who have lost everything, have had no food or water for 2-4 days that they are hunting for any food. God only knows what it must be like outwith the city. With an organised military and police presence and designated distribution points when air actually arrives things could be stabilized very quickly and then medical, shelters etc would be able to be brought in. There is a curfew in the city but life is very desperate as you can imagine.
I would guess that a ship will be placed off the shore of each effected area and then things will hopefully change.
There are some stupid things happening that should be controlled at a government level. The route to Manila is clear however is a long haul and instead of a red eye military supply there appears to be as well as the needed aid workers and essential staff a flow of family members looking for loved ones. I totally understand this however any new none essential person is another mouth to feed. Some of Mai's friends who are nurses have headed for Manila and will enter with the aid convoys.
There is another smaller typhoon heading to the region tomorrow and more rain fell last night than on the evening of Typhoon.
Sorry for the bleak picture but this is the facts from down on the ground in Taloban. The city is gone, pretty much every building is gutted or washed out. The luckier families have structures no roof. My wifes family all left their houses for the old family home and have tried to put together a makeshift roof.
Thank you for your time,
1 extra point: (apparently, I'll withhold judgement on this) Philippine airlines were doing flights in and out and were ### charging for the flights out. All the millions of aid sent internationally and they are charging survivors!?!?!? if so they are a shower of of B's!!! (I'm sorry for the language) There are no points to access money even if the survivors had managed to hold onto their bank cards etc when they were swimming for their lives. Price 1800-2000 Philippine pesos has been said from our family within the city. The C130 were obviously not charging and
neither was Cebu Pacific. I think the US Marines are now administering the airport so I can see it only being aid /military flights.
There are lines of people stretching out from the airport.
7 comments:
Paul, is there any aid fund to which we can donate where money will actually get through / help?
FMB
Wow. Sorry to hear about the difficulties, and I wonder about the airline. I teach at a University in a Business School, but one thing we are careful to emphasize is the "societal marketing concept." In short, the airline could get great publicity, build its market share, and enhance its image by just helping these people. I wonder if they are selling seats at reduced fares? Hmm.
Hi Mark, I hate had a think about this 1. The info came from 2 family sources on the ground and also mai asked on Facebook abd a few of her friends confirmed the price. There was a private jet offering flights out for 60,000 ph pesos. Around £900-1000 a ticket. They will no doubt have stopped now!
Hi Paul,
Hopefully materials will flow in soon and be distributed.
Nice to hear about the profiteering - happens in every disaster somebody always makes a buck out of the misery.
Ken
Hi Paul,
It's great to hear your family have made it through the initial disaster alive. Although there are always some people who surpass your expectations about just how scummy humans can behave towards one another I'd like to think they are enormously outweighed by the ordinary people who do extra-ordinary things at times like this.
The BBC was saying that the runway at Tacloban Airport is too short for many of the aircraft bringing in aid from around the world and is being bottlenecked at Cebu - it needs to be transhipped from the big jets to the C130s etc.
I really hope everything works out for your family.
Malc
Paul, is there a relief organization to which we can donate that's actually getting help through?
FMB
Thanks everyone, we really appreciate the support. We have clubbed in with friends and a relief convoy has been organised to head for tacloban with essentials for our neighbourhoods. Medical and security in tow. Left today, may take 24-48 hours but if it gets their before or after the ships arrive it will be helpful.
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