In the afternoon of Thursday the 16 December 2021, the region of CARAGA and other affected regions in the Philippines, was battered by catastrophic winds sustained at 195 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 270 km/h brought by Super Typhoon Rai (local name: Odette). Typhoon Rai, a category 5 typhoon in its initial landfall, wreaked havoc in several regions and made landfall in a number of areas in Mindanao and Visayas (southern Philippines) and parts of Luzon. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Typhoon Rai has killed at 31 people and displaced 488,463 persons, with numbers still increasing as reports from the local government units continue to pour in. The typhoon left the Philippine area of responsibility on Saturday afternoon, 18 December.

Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal 4 was raised in several provinces which meant very destructive typhoon-force winds were experienced. Floodwaters in some areas reached chest-high and some even reaching the roofs of many houses, inundating many low-lying communities. Flashfloods and storm surges were reported in coastal areas. Houses and infrastructure, as well as agricultural lands were devastated. There were power outages and downed telecommunication lines caused by heavy rains and strong winds, making it very challenging to get information on the damages in badly affected areas, particularly small islands.  The Philippines is the ninth country most-prone to the impacts of climate change, and the poor communities are the ones mostly experiencing the brunt of extreme climate-induced weather events.

Evacuation centers for the typhoon affected families are being updated since some of them were used as isolation facilities to those who contracted COVID-19. Since the Omicron variant was just detected in the country, there is a possibility of an outbreak if the cases will not be detected and contained. Meanwhile, the supposed mass COVID-19 vaccination drive in most of the country was postponed due to the storm.

ALERT Philippines Typhoon

According to OCHA, in 2,021, 126,675 people crossed the border between Colombia and Panama through the Darien Gap. Notwithstanding high under-reporting, local authorities and national and international NGOs located in the area have identified that many people from several countries chose the Darien Gap as a viable migration route, despite the great challenges imposed by the geography of the place and the conflict dynamics present in the territory: In the first three months of 2022, 13,425 people crossed through the Gap—at a rate of more than double when compared with the 5,622 people who crossed in the same period in 2,021.

As per the Colombian Ombudsman in his last field visit to Necoclí (Antioquia) in June 2022, the dire humanitarian situation is driven by mixed migratory flows, that sum up more than 19,000 refugees and migrants (about 25% of them are children) coming from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and some African countries, who are stranded in the municipality of Necocli seeking to reach Central America and the US.

Some other trends identified by the Ombudsman and UN agencies such as UNICEF are as follows: i) migrant profile has changed as most of the migrant population stagnated come from Venezuela, extremely impoverished as many of them come from countries as far as Chile on foot, by bus and lack the resources to sustain themselves and pay the high cost of crossing the border; ii) the increase of migrant families with children, in comparison to 2,021 when the predominant demographic group migrating were young male individuals and, iii) the most concerning trend, the increase of non-accompanied children. According to UNICEF, the number of non-accompanied children has increased twofold in 2,022 with 169 children aged 0 to 17 years and 41 children aged 13 to 17 years, who are more vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation and, use and forced recruitment by illegal groups. Up to date, 5,000 children have crossed the border since January 2,022.

The ACT forum Colombia through one of its members, the Fundación de Diaconia PAZOS, is planning on submitting an Appeal proposal to provide humanitarian relief through the adaptation of a temporary shelter that meets the habitability conditions. It is also expected to provide humanitarian assistance in food security (delivery of CVA), WASH (delivery of hygiene kits), and Protection (including SGBV and Child Protection, through psychosocial support and the strengthening of the local referral mechanism). 

ACT Alert Colombia 2022

In the afternoon of Saturday the 4 December 2021, the sub-districts of Pronojiwo and Candipuro in the district of Lumajang in East Java, Indonesia, was hit by volcanic eruption of Mount Semeru. As of 9th December, the government reported 43 people killed, 218 injured, and 5,205 people directly affected, with some 3,697 people who are displaced. UN OCHA recorded more than 300 government and non-government institutions that have provided relief assistance to the affected people . ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) reported 2,970 houses were damaged and thirteen public facilities .

ACT Indonesia Forum members, PELKESI and YEU, will access ACT’s Rapid Response Fund to respond to the disaster.

ALERT Indonesia Volcanic Eruption

On the early morning of Saturday, the 14th of August 2021 at 8:30am, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the Southern peninsula of Haiti with Petit Trou de Nippes as the epicenter of the earthquake. The vibration was felt all over the country and as far as Jamaica.  Aftershocks are still happening with more than three registering more than 6.2 magnitude in the Richter scale. About 1,297 deaths were initially reported and more than 5,000 people injured according to the civil protection direction (DPC). About 7,369 houses have been destroyed and 4,852 houses damaged in the three departments of the Sud, Grand Anse and Nippes. Several public buildings such as schools, churches, hotels, and private enterprises have also collapsed. More than 14,000 families have been affected in the three departments.). Some affected areas have lost access to electricity, communication, water, transportation access (by air and land), and in some cases, food sources. The Haitian government has started to deploy rescue and assistance to the affected areas.

Tropical Storm Grace is also predicted to hit the country in the morning of the 17th of August 2021 making the situation worse. The storm may have devastating impact on the people already affected by the earthquake. While last month, Haiti’s president was assassinated, causing turmoil in the country.

ACT Alliance is currently monitoring the situation and is supporting local partners to carry out rapid needs assessments in affected areas. Emergency teams are preparing to be deployed. The forum plans to raise an appeal pending their needs assessment analysis.

Alert Haiti Earthquake

On Thursday the 15 July 2021, Indonesia entered the worst-case scenario in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.  An additional 56,757 confirmed positive cases were reported. The capacity of government health facilities and isolation shelters government is incapable of coping with the increasing wave of positive cases. Hospitals located on the island of Java are over capacity, and the number of health workers exposed and dying continues to grow.

The ACT Indonesia forum is planning on submitting a funding proposal to ensure that the epidemic affected persons’ basic needs are met with regards to access to health services for Covid-19 patients, access to vaccinations and health promotion education for the communities, strengthening of health facilities, and support for health workers.

Alert-Covid-19 Emergency in Indonesia

On the morning of Monday 01 February 2021, the government of Myanmar was thrown into a political crisis. The ensuing waves of mass protest grew increasingly violent. The political crisis resulted in a collapse of public services and widespread armed conflict, impacting the lives of people living in urban centres as well as remote rural villages.

Communities where many ACT Alliance partners are working face massive impacts as a result of the combined emergencies of armed conflict and COVID-19. Market systems and food production systems are disrupted due movement restrictions imposed to prevent spread of COVID-19 and related to the conflict itself. In some parts of the country, farmers are not planting rice this monsoon season (May – October) because they fear that this substantial investment will just result in their crops being confiscated by the combatants. The banking sector has been severely disrupted and people are very cash poor. Food prices have started to skyrocket.

As of 01 June 2021, the situation has further deteriorated, and the needs have increased. Priority needs include food, shelter, and access to water and latrines. The lack of WASH facilities may lead to deadly diarrheal outbreaks and entire communities are vulnerable to COVID-19 because large numbers of displaced households are now sleeping together in crowded and poorly ventilated spaces such as churches and monasteries. Furthermore, cases of malaria have been reported among the displaced population sheltering in the jungle following the early arrival of the monsoons. Access to IDPs remains restricted due to ongoing fighting, remote muddy terrain, road blockages, and increasing landmine risks. Local partners and experts warn of a looming food security crisis if internally displaced persons (IDPs) are not able to return to their homes to tend to their crops and livestock. The full onset of the monsoon season in June will pose additional logistical challenges for humanitarian access. As the needs grow, local responders are increasingly stretched and require additional financial support to reach the most vulnerable among displaced communities.

Alert Myanmar Complex Crisis