Asia Emergency Response Summary

Direct Relief’s emergency-response efforts are aimed at bringing resources—either directly or in coordination with other international nongovernmental organizations—to support local groups, whose community knowledge and standing provide the best insight, access, and quickest action.

Philippines: Flooding, Displacement from Typhoon Ketsana 

Typhoon Ketsana’s landfall on Saturday, September 26, 2009, unleashed the worst storm in 40 years, causing severe flooding in Manila and the surrounding six provinces, killing more than 300 people. The residences of 2 million people and 80 percent of Manila were flooded.  The anticipated arrival of additional storms led the Philippines’ President to declare a nationwide "state of calamity" and order mass evacuations of six provinces on Friday, October 2.

Response: Direct Relief is coordinating with the medical arm of Gawad Kalinga, the country’s largest nongovernmental organization, and other Philippine groups responding to the emergency.  Direct Relief also has joined with Singapore-based Mercy Relief and Australian Aid International, both of which have deployed specialized medical staff to the Philippines, on the relief effort.

The risk of injury or death from flooding itself is accompanied by near-term risks related to exposure of mass populations and waterborne illnesses caused by compromised water and sanitation systems. Mercy Relief’s head of international programs is in Manila with Gawad Kalinga’s health director, coordinating with Direct Relief’s U.S.-based emergency response director and Asia program chief. They are arranging logistics channels via FedEx, which is donating airlift services, and will oversee directly the provision of medical material to Gawad Kalinga-organized health services.

Direct Relief’s Philippines response also is being assisted by several healthcare company partners (see list at right).

Indonesia: Padang Earthquake 

West Sumatra was rocked by two large earthquakes less than 24 hours apart that has left more than 1,000 people dead and thousands more trapped under a city of rubble. Nearly every building taller than three stories in Padang suffered damage, and, tragically, all three main hospitals collapsed and current patients had to be evacuated.

Faced with the devastation, Padang's mayor appealed for assistance and said, "We are overwhelmed with victims and...lack of clean water, electricity and telecommunications. We really need help.”

Response: Direct Relief is coordinating with Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s largest civic organization, which has requested assistance. Direct Relief worked in partnership with the organization since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, including in response to the 2006 Jogjakarta earthquake.

Direct Relief also is partnering with Indonesia-based Yayasan Bumi Sehat, which also has been an ongoing partner since the tsunami. The organization provides community-based primary care as well as maternal and child healthcare services on the island of Sumatra.

Over the next several weeks, the priority goal is to bolster availability of medical items needed to treat a range of traumatic injuries caused by falling debris, crush injuries, fractures, lacerations and search and rescue activities. A continued flow of primary care items to help keep peoples with pre-existing health problems and all other “normal illness,” will also be necessary, especially while local resources are reallocated for emergency response.

American Samoa and Samoa: Tsunami 

Multiple earthquakes this week have triggered tsunamis throughout the Pacific that have killed nearly over 200 people and caused widespread injury and property damage in the Samoan Islands, which includes the U.S. territory of American Samoa and the Independent State of Samoa. Entire villages have been destroyed, leaving thousands homeless. Hundreds are reported injured, primarily with wounds and abrasions sustained during the tsunami.

Response: Upon news of the tsunami, Direct Relief immediately contacted the head of American Samoa’s public hospitals, as well as the National Association of Community Health Centers’ director of emergency response and the administrator of the Federally Qualified Health Centers on the island to offer medical material assistance.

Donated materials would inject critically needed medical resources into the health care system for immediate patient care and to replenish the medical supplies used during the acute phase of the response. Needs are currently being assessed and sourced from Direct Relief’s standing inventory and from medical manufacturer donors.

In Samoa, Direct Relief is coordinating with the Chair of the National Health Services Board, who advised that a high number of trauma cases are being handled and is conducting a material needs assessment.

In addition to care for people injured by the tsunami are concerns related to access to clean water, which can lead to diarrheal diseases and other conditions.

Southern India: Flooding 

Extraordinarily heavy rains in early October 2009 caused the worst flooding decades in two southern India states, displacing 2.5 million people and killing hundreds. Floodgates on dams had to be opened, exacerbating already grim conditions. Officials in-country are most concerned about waterborne diseases among the displaced, including diarrheal diseases and chikungunya (a form of malaria), as well as viral fever. Widespread damage to crops is anticipated to cause food shortages as well.

Response: Direct Relief has equipped its longtime partner in India, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), with a technologically sophisticated telemedicine van that allows it to reach remote, displaced populations with high-quality medical care. AIMS has deployed the telemedicine van and an ambulance, along with a large contingent of medical staff, to establish mobile medical clinics in camps where the internally displaced are sheltered. AIMS recently received from Direct Relief a large consignment of medical material aid—designed specifically to treat 10,000 people for a variety of common conditions during a flood situation—and is using it for this emergency.