U.N. Puts Rising Indonesia Death Toll at 1,100
The United Nations' humanitarian chief said Thursday the powerful earthquakes that struck Indonesia have killed at least 1,100 people, while a government official said at least 777 people have been found dead.
During a press conference on natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region, John Holmes said the latest figures received "suggest the death toll has risen already to 1,100" in the aftermath of Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake, which was followed by another earthquake Thursday morning.
The U.N. emergency relief coordinator and under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs said he feared thousands more were trapped in the rubble of homes, hotels, hospitals and schools destroyed or badly damaged.
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"There is a lot of emergency relief needed in all these cases," he said, describing a series of severe weather events that jolted the region in the past week.
International relief groups such as World Vision and Catholic Relief Services have been stretched extra thin as a result of this past week's disasters, which included a quake-triggered tsunami that hit American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga on Tuesday; and Typhoon Ketsana, which flooded more than 80 percent of the Philippines' capital city of Manila Saturday and severely damaged more than 150,000 homes in Vietnam's Quang Nam province two days later.
While the immediate focus is on rescue efforts and emergency relief, the relief groups are already planning for the long-term reconstruction vital to recovery efforts.
Each group is also seeking help from the international community in the form of donations.
For Manila alone, Christian relief and development organization World Vision is globally attempting to raise $2 million to enable a comprehensive response.
"The scale of the devastation is stretching all of us," reported World Vision Philippines advocacy director Minnie Portales.
"The important thing is to show people that they are not forgotten by getting even small amounts of aid out," she added.
While relief workers in the Philippines have been battling through heavy rains to reach those yet to receive any aid following Typhoon Ketsana, they are also wary of a possible second strike by Typhoon Parma, which appears to be a category 5 super typhoon currently on track to hit northern Luzon on Saturday.
"I am fearful that further heavy rains brought about by Typhoon Parma could make already fragile living conditions even worse, leading to a great deal of misery," reported Elnora Avarientos, national director for World Vision Philippines, on Friday.
The Christian relief and development organization is currently coordinating with government officials to evacuate people in anticipation Saturday's landfall of "Super Typhoon Parma," which could be more destructive than Typhoon Ketsana.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has ordered the evacuation of coastal towns in the path of the storm and, in Manila, thousands have fled their homes for higher ground.
