Moving forward

The Philippines is in the eye of a storm—of goodwill. The range of the assistance for survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda/Haiyan” from the international community, including governments and private corporations, groups and individuals, is heartwarming.

Humanitarian organizations including the United Nations’ various agencies and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are at the forefront, sending and pledging essential relief goods, medicines, temporary shelters, hygiene materials, water purification and sanitation systems, and sounding the call for more financial aid to ensure the flow of supplies and shelters for the next 18 months.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) has flown in personnel and 200 tons of aid. World Vision has arranged for the shipment of blankets and tarpaulins, and Oxfam, AmeriCares and other private charities have pitched in with medical and relief supplies, proving true to their mission of extending help to countries sorely in need of it.

Early last week, the Department of Foreign Affairs said as many as 22 countries and the European Union had provided aid in terms of money, relief supplies, and medical workers, search-and-rescue personnel, and humanitarian experts. Canada has started the Philippine Crisis Fund, Britain and Australia have dispatched heavy equipment and transport planes like C-130s, “the war horses of relief operations,” as have Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan and Thailand. Turkey has likewise sent 90 tons of aid material. More financial aid has been sent by the Vatican, as have Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China.

The United States has taken a stellar role in the relief-and-rehabilitation effort. The superpower has deployed an entire carrier group led by the USS George Washington as well as military personnel to help restore and maintain operations at the Tacloban airport and distribute 55 tons of emergency food supplies provided by the US Agency for International Development.

We have not even begun to mention Japan’s emergency aid package and deployment of troops to help in relief efforts, or 6-year-old Shoichi Kondoh’s donation of 5,000 Japanese yen from his piggy bank. The swift response of the world is simply overwhelming.

All these are but a sampling of the peoples speaking different languages and pledging allegiance to different governments who are coming to the Philippines’ aid. All these remind us that we are not alone.

Filipinos here and abroad have likewise given all they can, including big business making their own donations and launching fundraising campaigns, and children, like Kondoh, sending their savings to help. Praise should go as well to the frontline volunteers; the military and police personnel now helping put order in the battered areas and striving mightily to prevent these from deteriorating into a total wasteland; and the survivors themselves who, through their own efforts, are beginning the arduous process of rebuilding. It’s time now to focus on stories of heroism and valor, as Inquirer columnist Michael Tan has pointed out. Time now to look ahead.

This is perhaps the true litmus test for the Aquino administration, which has promised that “no Filipino will be left behind” in the aftermath of Yolanda. The tremendous outpouring of aid from the international community and from Filipinos themselves requires of the administration a judicious, organized and transparent system ensuring that it would be put to good use. This is truly a case of starting over, a renewed lease on life for the survivors and their stricken region. Their immediate comfort is urgently required, and their—and their respective communities’—long-term prospects must also be addressed.

It’s a daunting task not for the weak-kneed. On the ground, critical bottlenecks are slowly being eased and the excruciatingly slow pace of assistance being remedied. But the situation in many devastated areas remains desperate and heartbreaking. Still, with the world’s assistance, Central Philippines and its people can now begin to think not merely of moving on but, more important, moving forward.