Informal supply chains help feed typhoon survivors
Tacloban (Philippines) (AFP) -
Supplementing the quickening relief effort trying to help survivors of
the Philippines typhoon is an informal -- and sometimes underground --
supply chain that is helping some people put food on the table.
Families from as far away as Manila and the
southern island of Mindanao endure long journeys by air, sea and land to
bring food packs, tents, medicines and other materials to affected
relatives.
Friends stay with friends and communities share
whatever they have, especially if a neighbour has babies, children or
elderly members.
Marife Sumapig and her family have received only
one food pack since Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms
ever to hit land, smashed through the central Philippines on November 8,
leaving more than 5,000 dead and millions homeless.
The aid
package contained four kilograms (nine pounds) of rice, some cup noodles
and two cans of sardines -- barely enough for a few days.
"But
despite getting help only once, we have not gotten hungry so far. There
seems to be food on the table every day," she told AFP from her damaged
house in the city of Tacloban, one of the hardest-hit places.
Victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan receive food parcels handed out at a temporary shelter in Tacloban o …
"Today I ate lunch at my sister's place. Yesterday, my husband bought some vegetables in another town, so we're tiding over."
Sumapig,
her husband and their eight-year-old son have taken up an offer from a
friend to stay at his house, one of the few private buildings in the
city that is still habitable.
Help is coming in from Manila, where
their 17-year-old daughter Ameel is studying. "When her classmates
learned that she is from Tacloban, they pooled their resources and gave
her some money and groceries," Marife Sumapig said.
In the town of
Burawin, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Tacloban, three men were
chewing on dried squid as they supped a gin and cola, courtesy of a
relative who had travelled from the city of General Santos on Mindanao
to bring the goodies
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