ASEAN to dispatch relief aids to Philippines within week

ASEAN Secretary-General and coordinator of ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance (AHA) Le Luong Minh said Tuesday that relief aids from ASEAN would be dispatched this week to the city of Tacloban, the area mostly devastated by super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. "The relief items including generators, mobile storage and ASEAN Family Kits. We are focusing on the most desperately needed food and clean water. The AHA Center has stockpile ready to go," Minh said in meeting held at AHA Center premises here, attended by representatives of AHA Center, ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Committee of Permanent Representatives, ASEAN Defense Attaches, and ASEAN Dialogue Partners. The meeting discussed the collaborative efforts in response to typhoon Haiyan emergencies in the Philippines and monitored the latest situation in Vietnam which was also affected by the typhoon. Previously, Minh has offered assistance to the government of the Philippines in response to the devastation brought about by Haiyan. AHA Center Executive Director Said Faisal said the meeting was a follow-up of early response to the disaster and assessment activities in the Philippines. "After receiving the information from the field and the government of the Philippines, we are moving forward with providing emergency assistance," Faisal said in a statement. He added that now is the time for ASEAN to work together in the spirit of ASEAN's solidarity in mobilizing assets and resources in providing supports to the government and people of the Philippines in such a critical moment. The Jakarta-based AHA Center has been closely monitoring the movement of the typhoon and put a field team on the ground before the typhoon landed on Nov. 8. Faisal said that assessment and additional teams have been on the ground to determine the type of assistance that can be mobilized through the ASEAN's channel. Besides discussing relief aids to the Philippines, ASEAN is also preparing to expand its relief operations to Vietnam which was also hit by Haiyan typhoon on Monday, as Le Luong Minh conveyed his sympathy to the Vietnamese people and offered ASEAN's support. "ASEAN stands ready to assist Vietnam if requested, and will continue to work closely with the AHA Center to facilitate ASEAN's response to assist Vietnam in the ongoing response to the disaster, " Minh added. The Philippine authorities have said casualties caused by typhoon Haiyan has reached 1,774 and are still counting, while 2, 487 were injured and more than 660,000 people were displaced. Due to the catastrophic scale of the disaster, it was feared that the casualties may rise up to more than 10,000 as search and rescue operations are underway at the moment. The United Nations (UN) stated that the strongest typhoon recorded in modern history may affect more than 10 million people in the Philippines.