Delivering aid in the Philippines poses many challenges to aid agencies, from transportation issues related to bad weather, damaged roads and infrastructure, to the fact that the country is made up of some 7,000 islands.
Using the power of dozens of people to push a plane out of the way and clear the runway at the airport in Cebu where aid is arriving.
The Canadian Red Cross team has overcome many of these challenges in the past few days to deploy supplies and 15 delegates to the Philippines and set up its field hospital (ERU) in Ormoc, with support from the Norwegian and Hong Kong Red Cross societies.
Logistics challenges the ERU team faced while transporting medical supplies include keeping vaccines cool while en route to Ormoc.
The field hospital staff is working closely with the local hospital which has been damaged and is operating at less than 20% capacity, as well as other emergency health care providers and NGOs working in the health sector.
The Canadian Red Cross field hospital is set up in Ormoc, Philippines.
We’ll provide more updates in the coming days as the hospital begins treating patients, delivering babies and offering surgical and basic health care services to the local population that has been impacted by Typhoon Haiyan.
In the meantime, the Philippine Red Cross has been distributing supplies to families. The Canadian government has also just released its emergency stockpile of relief supplies for the response in the Philippines.
You can support Red Cross relief efforts by donating to the Typhoon Haiyan fund.