GOAL CEO, BARRY Andrews today described the international effort to respond to the Typhoon Haiyan disaster in the Philippines as completely inadequate.
He also described the failure to meet the UN call for funding a disgrace, given the scale of the tragedy.
Vital supplies
Yesterday, GOAL said they had reached more than 15,000 people with vital aid supplies.
Aid including food, such as rice, sardines and noodles, and non-food items like plastic sheeting, blankets and buckets, were delivered to families on Leyte and Panay Islands. More distributions are planned for the coming days in Tacloban city, and other affected areas.
“GOAL is getting aid to some of the worst-hit areas, but one week on from the disaster, there are hundreds of thousands of people who still need our support,” said Andrews.
Yesterday the UN said that only 19 per cent of its call for funding had been met by international governments.
On the ground
Andrews said:
The situation on the ground in the Philippines is almost beyond description. The UN made a call for funding in the amount of €300 million and to date a fraction of that has been met. The failure to meet that funding is a disgrace.
He said that by now, everyone will have heard the clear frustration felt by those most affected by the typhoon. “What is needed now is cash and clear commitments from governments. The response by the international community so far has been completely inadequate. At the current rate of funding, the emergency response is going to fail,” he added.
He said what is needed now is an acknowledgment that we all have a responsibility for climate change which contributed significantly to the ferocity of this storm. “There is no point talking about ‘climate justice’ when one of the clearest examples of rich-world inertia being visited on vulnerable communities is only 19 per cent funded,” added Mr Andrews.
Andrews called on the Irish government to take a leadership position on this issue, something he said Ireland has done so many times in the past.
Donations can be made to the GOAL response in The Philippines by telephoning 01 280 9779; visiting www.goal.ie; or following GOAL on Facebook at GOALIreland.
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