MANILA, Philippines (October 31, 2009) — Typhoon Mirinae (known locally as "Santi") hit Central Luzon in the Philippines in the early hours of Saturday, October 31, just weeks after the country was devastated by Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma. Millions of people were affected and hundreds of thousands displaced by these two previous storms.

A submerged street in Biñan in the province of Laguna, Phillipines, October 31, 2009.

The extent of the damage from Typhoon Mirinae is still to be determined, but flash flooding and widespread power outages are reported in areas of Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces of Laguna and Rizal.

Save the Children sent a team out within hours of the storm to assess the damage.

"Many of the affected areas, like Biñan and Santa Rosa in Laguna province, had just dried up in the last week from the flooding caused by Ketsana," said Annie Foster, Save the Children’s emrgency response team leader. "Today these areas are submerged once again. People are wading through knee-deep water without protective gear, children are walking through barefoot."

Following Tropical Storm Ketsana, Metro Manila and some of the surrounding provinces faced an outbreak of leptospirosis, a bacterial disease caused by exposure to water contaminated by human and animal waste, particularly that of rodents. The latest data from the Philippines' Department of Health shows that there were at least 2,089 cases of the disease, with 162 fatalities, in the weeks following the storm.

To help prepare families for today's storm, Save the Children was able to distribute critical non-food relief items in communities and evacuation centers the day before Typhoon Mirinae hit, reaching 800 families in Laguna province with essential household and hygiene kits, along with jerry cans with potable water.

Some families had only recently left schools serving as evacuation centers for hundreds of people, only to have to return yesterday due to the pending arrival of Mirinae. Many more families have been in these evacuation centers since the days before Tropical Storm Ketsana hit on September 26.

"When we returned to an evacuation center in Santa Rosa today," said Foster, "we met people who had spent over a month living there because their houses were flooded by Ketsana. Some had returned to their homes a few days ago to begin cleaning up, but due to last night's typhoon, many of their homes are now completely destroyed or at least severely damaged. They had to turn around and come back to crowded centers with woefully inadequate sanitation facilities." 

Today families with their children were seen traversing the streets on makeshift boats made from air mattresses, plastic chairs and cardboard, as many roads are knee-deep, or even waist-deep, with brown floodwater.

Save the Children will be working to provide assistance to the children and families affected by this latest storm.

To date Save the Children has distributed over 10,500 kits of essential relief items, including clothing, blankets, potable water and hygiene supplies in communities affected by Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma. Teams of staff have also set up child-friendly spaces, where children have a safe place to play, learn and interact with their peers. Save the Children has been working in the Philippines for 27 years.

More information
Please contact Gia-Marie Chu, gchu@savechildren.org, + 639 178 590759 or Latha Caleb, lcaleb@savechildren.org, + 639 175 332100 for more information or media interviews.

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