Typhoon Haiyan: UN launches $301m aid appeal for Philippines

The UN has launched an appeal for £190m to help people in the Philippines who were severely affected by super typhoon Haiyan.

05:45 13 November 2013

Last weekend, the strongest typhoon on record, Typhoon Haiyan, has battered the Philippines leaving thousands of people dead and millions homeless. Several countries, including the UK and the US, have offered help but bad weather is hampering aid distribution. BBC's Jonathan Head, in the badly-hit city of Tacloban on Leyte island, says that road to the airport is clogged by refuges and debris. He added that residents, who are homeless and who haven’t eaten properly in days, are becoming more and more angry at the lack of progress. 

 

The UN, which launched $310m aid appeal for Philippines, has already released $25m to address the immediate needs of the survivors. Valerie Amos, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, has arrived in Manila to head the aid operation. She said: "They need food, they need water, they need shelter. People need to be protected." 

 

Baroness Amos told reporters the UN will work together with the Philippine government and together, they will focus on “food, health, sanitation, shelter, debris removal, and also protection of the most vulnerable.”