Aid pours in from Canada to help victims of Asian disasters

As the winds die down, the waters recede, and rescuers turn to recover bodies, Canadians from all walks of life opened their hearts and wallets to help the millions of people who felt the unprecedented wrath of Mother Nature over the last two weeks.
From India to the Philippines to Vietnam and Cambodia, Indonesia and the South Pacific a series natural calamities, including two typhoons, two earthquakes, a towering tsunami and floods have ravaged the region leaving millions destitute and homeless. The scenes of devastation were widespread across Asia and the South Pacific this week: Whole villages wiped out by earthquakes or buried under landslides. Tens of thousands of terrified people huddling in shelters to escape typhoons. Hundreds of victims drowned in flash floods, crushed by buildings, buried in mud or swept out to sea.
“Relief and recovery efforts in coming weeks are crucial,” warned Fred Weiss, Samaritan’s Purse Canada’s executive director.
“Without adequate food, shelter, and other necessities, the most vulnerable - children, women, and the elderly - could fall prey to malnutrition and disease. People need help, and they need hope. We are committed to providing both, and we’re asking Canadians to partner with us in making that happen.”
“These heart-breaking tragedies in recent days have claimed the lives of hundreds of people, and left hundreds of thousands more in dire need of food, shelter, clean water, and medical care. ‘
As nations around the world pour millions in aid to the various countries, charity groups like World Vision, Samaritans Purse and the Salvation Army in Canada have launched appeals, while community groups are banding together to send much needed supplies to the impacted countries.
In Vancouver, several well known Filipino businesses were collecting donations for victims of the two typhoons.
They include Goldilocks bakery at 1606 West Broadway,  and Manila Express at 2380 Shell Rd. Richmond.
Community members are also planning to hold a series of events to help with recovery and aid efforts in the Philippines.
They include  “a poor man’s diner” which will be held on October 24 at the Corpus Christi Parish gym at Nanaimo Street and 48th Avenue in Vancouver and Surrey Philippine Independence Day Society Fundraising Concert  on October 9.
The efforts by the Filipino community in Canada was topped with a promise by Ottawa — Canada will fast-track the immigration of Philippine citizens “directly and significantly” affected by typhoon Ketsana seeking to relocate here, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced.
“Effective immediately immigration officials will begin expediting applications from individuals directly and significantly affected by the typhoon,” Kenney said.
The measures include “priority processing” of claims to reunite individuals with their families already living in Canada as well as temporary resident applications, he said.
On September 26, the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Ketsana, which triggered landslides, submerged homes and flooded streets, including in the capital Manila. Press reports put the death toll at nearly 300 people. Typhoon Ketsana later went on to strike other Southeast Asian nations as a typhoon, killing 162 in Vietnam, 18 in Cambodia and at least 16 in Laos.
This was followed by Typhoon Parma last weekend which wreaked havoc in Luzon. About 2.5 million people were affected by the typhoons, according to the American Red Cross.
A national state of calamity remains in effect in the Philippines.
In Indonesia, nearly 800,000 people are believed to have been affected by the two devastating earthquakes in West Sumatra.
The search for survivors in Padang was called off this week, as people stopped aid convoys and took supplies by force amid desperation due to the scarcity of help, officials and aid workers said.
Padang is the capital of West Sumatra and one of six districts badly affected by the earthquake.
The head of the Health Ministry’s crisis centre, Rustam Pakaya, put the death toll from the quake at more than 1,200.
Many victims were believed to be still trapped under collapsed buildings or buried by landslides triggered by the earthquake, he said.
Some 70,000 homes in the quake-hit region are without tap water after a water treatment plant was damaged by the quake, officials said.
According to the National Disaster Management Agency, 178,671 homes were damaged and some 88,300 homes and other buildings were destroyed.
The West Sumatran government has decided to turn three hamlets buried by the landslides, where up to 600 people were believed killed, into a mass grave, as there was little hope of finding anyone alive.
World Vision Canada said it began distributing relief goods to some of the earthquake survivors this week.
“We are planning a 90-day response to assist 10,000 families in three districts,” said Canadian Amelia Merrick, Operations Director for World Vision Indonesia.
In the south Pacific, a total of 160 people had been confirmed dead, including 120 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga after giant waves washed over the islands.
The tsunami was triggered by an 8.0 magnitude earthquake.
International Aid and relief efforts by Australia and New Zealand are helping the nations rebuild.
Devastating floods that killed more than 230 people in southern India have left close to 1.5 million others homeless, officials said this week.
The floods, triggered by days of torrential rain, have inundated swathes of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states, causing mass evacuations and leaving hundreds of thousands dependent on relief camps.
With the rains showing signs of easing, officials said relief efforts were now focused on providing shelter to survivors whose homes had been wiped out.
In Karnataka, one million people were homeless, of which more than 350,000 people had taken shelter in 1,200 relief camps in the worst-hit northern districts.
At least 200,000 homes were destroyed in Karnataka and almost 1,500 villages were partially or completely submerged, Parashwanath added.
Around 475,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in Andra Pradesh.
Even Bhutan was not spared from disaster when an earthquake in the east of the remote mountainous country killed 12 people, and damaged nearly 43,500 homes, 89 schools and more than 115 Government offices and 400 monasteries.
United Nations agencies are this week mobilizing to provide longer-term recovery aid to a raft of countries in Asia and the Pacific.
“Within hours after the catastrophes hit, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) began working in support of national authorities to respond to the immediate humanitarian needs in these countries,” said UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark in Bangkok, where she is holding meetings.
“UNDP is now preparing to support countries’ plans for longer-term recovery after waters recede and rubble is cleared,” she added, noting that with rapid support teams had already been sent to Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines, which have been inundated by typhoon-spawned flood waters, and Bhutan, Indonesia, Samoa and Tonga, which were hit by earthquakes and/or subsequent tsunamis.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said it is now seeking 18 million Swiss francs as it responds simultaneously to four major emergencies across Asia.