The Government has begun implementing a £6 million “rapid response” to the crisis in the Philippines, the International Development Secretary has said.
Justine Greening said NHS experts had been flown with shelter kits and water purification facilities to Tacloban, where 10,000 people are believed to have died after Typhoon Haiyan struck the six central Philippine islands on Friday.
The British response is being co-ordinated with aid agencies that already have a presence “on the ground”, the minister said.
But organisations are being hampered by widespread devastation. Emergency workers have been restricted by blocked roads and damaged airports as they raced to deliver tents, food and medicines to eastern Leyte Province.
Ms Greening said: “Prime Minister Cameron offered President Aquino our full support over the weekend. We have already released £6 million of support and that will go on to do two things.
“First of all, a rapid response facility. In other words, we have already got experts out there on the ground, more are flying in now and should be with them later today.
“That is focused on providing shelter kits – you saw some of the conditions people having to face at the moment.Photo gallery:Typhoon Haiyan causes devastation in the Philippines“Also this issue of water, so water purification kits, and then expert advice. We’ve also flown out two NHS experts, and I think what we’ll now do is quickly assess the scale of the needs.
“We’ve partnered up with NGOs (non-governmental organisations) that over the next few days will start to get to grips with who is where, but as you can see it is a chaotic situation. The first thing is to get the logistic routes open so we can start go get those life-saving supplies to people.
“We need then to work on the ground to get some semblance of order and start to put families back together.
“We’ve already got flights booked so we can get more supplies out and, of course, working hand in hand with Save the Children, so we can partner up with those key NGOs that can deliver on the ground.”
Ms Greening added that the potential for widespread looting and disorder further endangered women and children.
She said: “The focus is now also on providing protection for people, especially women and children, because this is an incredibly vulnerable situation for these people to find themselves in.
“Alongside the life-saving equipment, we will try to make sure they don’t go through any more situations worse than what they have already had.”
Gareth Owen, humanitarian director for Save the Children, appeared alongside Ms Greening to pledge his support for the mission.
He said: “The British public will help us we hope, as they do always. Save the Children has worked in the Philippines for many years and we’ve responded to many disasters like this, but frankly nothing on this scale.
“This is simply extraordinary in the extent of the damage. We had a team on the ground in Tacloban ahead of the storm because we had a few days to prepare there.
“They were hunkered down over the weekend, we lost contact with them and feared the worst. Thankfully, they’re OK, but they are reporting 80% damage in that city alone. This is huge.
“(The opening of the airport in Tacloban) means we can fly aid directly into the epicentre of this crisis.
“Save the Children has a flight prepared with the British Government out of Dubai with all of our emergency stock, special medical equipment, specialist water and sanitation equipment, specialist shelter equipment – things that are urgent for the people of Tacloban.”