Typhoon Mangkhut

Lausanne, Switzerland, September 15 2018 – On Saturday September 15, Super Typhoon Mangkhut struck the eastern coast of Luzon, the largest and most northern island of the Philippines, with devastating force.

With winds reaching over 250 kilometres per hour, up to 4.3 million people are potentially at risk. Crops and homes are likely to be destroyed, threatening people’s livelihoods. Flooding and landslides have already been reported further inland.

Our Global Emergency Response Team has decided to deploy four of its members: “Our team is leaving today for the Philippines to assess the situation, and provide assistance as needed,” said James McDowell, Head of Medair’s Global Emergency Response Team. “We are anticipating a high humanitarian impact, especially in more rural areas.”

The team is composed of shelter, logistics, communications, and emergency response distribution experts. Additional staffing resources are already in Manila.

Mangkhut, known as Ompong locally, is the most powerful typhoon to hit the country since Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which resulted in more than 6,300 deaths and millions of people displaced from their homes. Within 48 hours, Medair had sent its emergency team to assess the damage and start a reconstruction project in communities which were completely destroyed. We remained in the Philippines until the successful completion of our recovery programme in 2016.

For media

Media enquiries should be directed to:

• Nath Fauveau, Member of Medair’s Emergency Response Team deployed to the Philippines: nath.fauveau@medair.org, +63 99 53 90 61 54
• Paola Barioli, Press Relations Officer: paola.barioli@medair.org, +41(0)78 635 30 95

For regular updates, please check medair.org or our twitter feeds @MedairInt and @MedairPress.

Medair is an international humanitarian NGO that provides emergency relief and recovery services to families made vulnerable by natural disasters, conflicts, and other crises.