Post-Haiyan rebuilding could cost 3.

6bn, says Philippine minister

Typhoon relief efforts gathering pace with nearly 25,000 personnel deployed, but remote villages still desperate for aid theguardian.com, Tuesday 19 November 201 1!.2 "#T

$ family try to rebuild their destroyed hut in Tanauan, %hilippines. %hotograph& 'ondi Tawatao("etty )mages The cost of rebuilding in the swathe of the %hilippines devastated by typhoon *aiyan could reach + .!bn, a senior official has said. *omes, businesses, public facilities and infrastructure were shattered by the fierce winds and powerful storm surge. $t least ,9,- people are dead and 1,1.! missing, with an estimated four million displaced. The government has already cut its growth estimate for the year, but $rsenio /alisacan, the economic planning secretary, said the fundamentals remained intact in one of $sia0s fastest growing economies. 1) would not be surprised if it can go as high as 250 billion 2pesos, or + .!bn3,1 /alisacan told 4euters, commenting on the li5ely cost of reconstruction. The 6nited Nations 'evelopment %rogramme has pledged 75m 8+ .1m9 to help clear away debris that is hampering relief efforts. /ut *elen :lar5, the programme0s administrator, said four times that would be needed to clear rubble in affected provinces in the first phase of wor5.

4elief efforts have stepped up dramatically in the past few days. 1)t loo5s completely different to when ) came in last wee5,1 said ;alerie $mos, the 6nited Nations humanitarian chief. 1)0m really delighted that so much progress has been made, so much more aid is going out, and the people are getting the vital supplies that they need.1 The government said nearly 25,000 personnel, 10- ships and boats and 1! aircraft from various countries had been deployed. $lmost 90 medical teams, roughly half foreign and half local, are at wor5. <ieutenant "eneral 4oy 'everaturda, military commander of the ;isayas = the island grouping hit by the storm = said the region would be divided into bloc5s to streamline relief efforts. 1>e0re planning to as5 the /ritish 4oyal Navy to concentrate on the western ;isayas region to assess and deliver food, water and supplies to smaller islands ? >e already have the $mericans in @amar and <eyte and )sraeli doctors and relief teams in the northern tip of :ebu,1 he said. Aduardo del 4osario, director of the National 'isaster 4is5 4eduction and #anagement :ouncil, said& 1/asically, we0ve provided everyone with relief. >hat we are doing right now is sustainment.1 /ut in remote villages in Aastern @amar province, one of the areas worst hit by the storm, handwritten banners pleaded for attention and residents said they were in desperate need of aid. 1*elp us. >e need food,1 said one message painted on blue plastic sheeting. )n *ernani, where doBens of wooden houses were swept away and several villagers died, one family said there had been a single delivery of food and water, while others said there had been none. 1>e don0t have any choice over our future,1 said Nestor :andido, 9, as his family sheltered under a plastic sheet. 1$ll we do here is plant vegetables and harvest coconuts and now this tragedy ? )t will ta5e time to get another harvest.1 Courteen prisoners who escaped Tacloban Dail when the typhoon flooded the prison and smashed the central gate are bac5 behind bars, 4euters reported. $nother 10 are missing. The prisoners had been freed from their cells so they could see5 higher ground. @ome returned of their own volition while others were recaptured by officers. The Dail0s warden said many inmates had fled to help their families survive the storm.