GOVERNMENT OF PHILIPPINES REQUESTS AID AFTER DISASTER

GOVERNMENT OF PHILIPPINES REQUESTS AID AFTER DISASTER

NEW YORK, 22 December (OCHA) -- Following flooding, landslides, and a tornado in the central part of the Philippines, the Government has requested international assistance.  Medicines, food, including canned goods and other food, toiletries, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and blankets are the most needed items.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is providing an emergency grant of $50,000 for local purchase and transportation of relief items.

As of today, the Government says that 97,467 persons have been affected in the provinces of Bohol, Southern Leyte, Misamis Oriental, Compostela Valley, Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte.  More than 9,500 people are in 15 evacuation centres established in the area.  The Government puts the number of dead at 94, the injured at 50, and the missing at 93.  Bridges, roads and seawalls, as well as agriculture and fishing, have been damaged.

While damage and needs assessments are continuing in the disaster-stricken area, bad weather is hampering those efforts.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA NY,

tel.:  917 367 5126, mobile:  917 892 1679; or Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA Geneva,

tel.:  41 22 917 2653, mobile:  41(0) 79 472 4570.

* *** *