Shelter Centre

Source: UNICEF LA TRINIDAD, Philippines, 23 February 2010 – Harry, age 10, and 84 other children from Sto Nino Elementary and Pre-school recently took part in a two day resiliency camp at Benguet State University, which was organised by the Sunflower Children's Centre, a long-time UNICEF partner.

MANILA Tuesday, February 16, 2010 (IRIN) - Nearly five months after tropical storm Ketsana and two typhoons ravaged northern Philippines, evacuation centres are starting to close but thousands of people are still displaced, aid workers say.

MANILA Wednesday, January 06, 2010 (IRIN) - Thousands of evacuees from the area around Mayon volcano in the Philippines have returned home as the mountain gradually calmed down three weeks after it began spewing lava and ash.

MANILA Tuesday, December 08, 2009 (IRIN) - The government and international donors should not forget the crisis in southern Mindanao after a shift in focus to flood-ravaged Manila and the main southern island of Luzon, officials say.

MANILA Monday, December 28, 2009 (IRIN) - Nearly 50,000 people are still crammed in 29 evacuation centres in the eastern Philippine province of Albay after scientists raised the alert level of the Mayon volcano from three to four on a five-step alert system on 20 December.

MANILA Wednesday, December 16, 2009 (IRIN) - Mayon volcano in eastern Albay Province in the Philippines is expected to erupt any minute, but relief assistance has been in place for months for thousands of evacuees, officials say.

Mayon Volcano. From the Flickr page of Natz Tolentino Llaguno

For more than two weeks, 10,000 families were housed in temporary shelters after Alert Level 4 was raised around Mayon Volcano in the Philippines. These families spent the Christmas and New Year in evacuation centers. Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines, having erupted 50 times in the past 400 years. It is located in Albay province, southeast of Luzon Island.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology released a status report on Mayons volcanic activity:

Alert Level 3 is in effect over Mayon, which means that the 6-km radius Permanent Danger Zone around the volcano and the 7-km Extended Danger Zone on the southeast flank of the volcano should be free from human activity because of sudden explosions that may generate hazardous volcanic flows

A short video clip showing lava flows from Mayon:

The National Disaster Coordinating Council released this update on the situation of the residents in evacuation centers:

The DSWD reported that a total of 10,080 families / 47,766 persons coming from 32 barangays in five (5) municipalities and three (3) cities in Albay were affected

As of January 02, 2009, twenty eight (28) evacuation centers are still open providing temporary shelter to the 9,470 families / 44,938 persons

UPDATE: 96 percent of evacuees have returned home already.

 ... 

Source: IRIN Seventy-two year-old grandmother Jovita Ramos's arthritic hands could hardly stop shaking as she stood in line for assistance.

A UN appeal for funds to help the millions of people hit by storms and floods in the Philippines has raised only a quarter of the amount sought.
The UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, John Holmes, said its appeal for $74m (£47m) had raised only $19m so far.
Back-to-back typhoons in little more than a week triggered landslides and widespread flooding, killing at least 650 people and leaving many homeless. Original article

Almost 100 people died after landslides triggered by Typhoon Parma buried dozens of houses in the northern Philippines, local officials and news agencies reported Friday. Original article

Date: 28 Sep 2009
Source: Agence France-Presse

Date: 27 Sep 2009
Source: Agence France-Presse

Date: 25 Aug 2009
Source: ICRC

Source: AlertNet

LIBUNGAN TORRETA Monday, May 25, 2009 (IRIN) - Dirty and cold, about 100 children huddle under a tarpaulin at an evacuation site on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. With gun battles continuing daily, their prospects of returning home soon seem more remote than ever.

Date: 25 May 2009
Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks

MANILA Monday, May 18, 2009 (IRIN) - Climate change is taking its toll on farming in the Philippines, with more than US$27 million damage done to crops and livestock by typhoons Kujira and Chan-hom, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported.

Date: 14 May 2009
Source: Government of the Philippines

MANILA Tuesday, May 12, 2009 (IRIN) - Emergency relief efforts continue for people displaced by two back-to-back typhoons that wreaked havoc across large parts of the eastern and northern Philippines. The storms displaced more than 400,000 people, the vast majority of whom have yet to return home, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported.

MANILA Monday, May 04, 2009 (IRIN) - Tropical storm Dante, which unleashed heavy rains triggering flash floods and landslides, left at least 20 dead and displaced thousands, emergency relief officials said on 4 May.