LONDON - The British Red Cross prepared to reinforce relief efforts in the typhoon-ravaged Philippines on Thursday.
Aid packages, which included cars, generators, tents and food were loaded onto an airplane in Stansted Airport early in the morning.
The British Red Cross, which already has workers operating on the ground, said the packages were aimed at supporting their staff in relief efforts.
"The need on the ground is huge, it is enormous, there is a huge amount of people affected by this disaster and we need to make sure that the assessment teams are able to carry out their work and make sure they get the information back to us about what is needed most urgently. We also have centres in Dubai and Kuala Lumpur, where we have had aid leaving since the weekend. And things like tarps and hygiene kits, and stuff that is important for the people of the Philippines. This equipment is for our teams to make sure that they can continue to service the people of the Philippines," said Charlotte McGlade, the logistics officer for the organisation.
International aid efforts continue to pour into central Philippines as President Benigno Aquino faces mounting pressure to speed up the distribution of supplies.
While relief efforts picked up on Thursday, local authorities began burying the dead - an important, if grim, milestone for a city shredded by one of the world's most powerful typhoons and the tsunami-like wall of seawater believed to have killed thousands.
The preliminary number of missing as of Thursday, according to the Red Cross, remained at 22,000. It has cautioned that that number could include people who have since been located.
More the 544,600 people have been displaced and nearly 12 percent of the population affected, the United Nations said. But many areas still have not received aid.
The overall financial cost of the destruction was hard to assess. Initial estimates varied widely, with a report from German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis putting the total at 8 billion USD to 19 billion USD.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
