UK Typhoon Haiyan Charity Appeal Tops $48 Million In 3 Days

UK Typhoon Haiyan Charity Appeal Tops $48 Million In 3 Days
TACLOBAN, PHILIPINNES - NOVEMBER 15: Filipinos queue for food, water and fuel oil in typhoon-ravaged Tacloban city in Philippines on November 15, 2013. Tacloban is struggling to recover from the ruin and devastation caused by the storms which caused catastrophic damage throughout central Philippines.There are corpses lying uncollected on the streets because cold storage depots and morgues are also damaged. Search and rescue teams are struggling to poll bodies from debris to prevent the risk of epidemics. (Photo by Aykut Unlupinar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
TACLOBAN, PHILIPINNES - NOVEMBER 15: Filipinos queue for food, water and fuel oil in typhoon-ravaged Tacloban city in Philippines on November 15, 2013. Tacloban is struggling to recover from the ruin and devastation caused by the storms which caused catastrophic damage throughout central Philippines.There are corpses lying uncollected on the streets because cold storage depots and morgues are also damaged. Search and rescue teams are struggling to poll bodies from debris to prevent the risk of epidemics. (Photo by Aykut Unlupinar/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

More than £30 million has been raised by the Typhoon Haiyan charity appeal in just three days, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has revealed.

The alliance of 14 UK aid charities said its total had shot up from £23 million at noon yesterday as the public responded to the disaster, which has left thousands dead and many more homeless in the Philippines.

The funds will be used to deliver food, water and sanitation equipment, household items and building materials to rebuild essential infrastructure in the ruined areas.

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "We are so grateful to the people of the UK for their generosity to date. The DEC member agencies and their partners are working on the ground to deliver essential aid.

"But the needs are so great, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced. People desperately need the basics of food, water and shelter. Money raised will go to delivering these essentials and it's important we continue to provide this help."

The typhoon a week ago devastated nine regions with the country's national Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre counting 2,357 killed and 3,853 injured. DEC said fuel in the provincial capital of Tacloban was expected to run out within days.

DEC funds are gathered centrally in the UK and divided between its members on the basis of capacity.

This morning an RAF cargo plane carrying heavy duty vehicles and medical supplies left RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire as part of Britain's emergency response to the disaster.

The huge C-17 transport plane was carrying two JCB diggers, two Land Rovers and a forklift truck emblazoned with stickers reading "UK aid from the British people".

The aircraft, being operated by No 99 Squadron, is due to land in the Philippines by tomorrow morning.

Flight Sergeant Tony Rimmer, load master at Brize Norton, said: "You feel like you're doing your part to help. It's a small part but we try to do our best.

"We've had no shortage of volunteers to carry out the task that we've got to do."

Speaking at Brize Norton, International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: "We have been one of the countries that has really been part of trying to get humanitarian aid through to the people on the ground.

"But what we know is we have to get the logistics operation up and running and that means clearing the roads.

"You cannot do that without the right equipment. We've got the right equipment and we're sending it over."

She added: "I think we'll be working with the Philippines over the coming months, possibly years.

"Obviously this has been a terrible disaster.

"We have got to work with them to try and make sure that we provide the humanitarian support to the people on the ground now, and then work with them to try and get their infrastructure back up and running."

A 12-strong team of British doctors, surgeons and paramedics landed in the capital, Manila, yesterday to help treat survivors of the typhoon, the Department for International Development (DfID) said.

Their arrival came as Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious was also being sent there.

The vessel, which was taking part in exercises in the Gulf, will arrive in the disaster zone to support the humanitarian operation by November 25, replacing HMS Daring, which has already been deployed to the Philippines.

The Philippines government has defended its efforts to deliver aid.

Interior secretary Mar Roxas said: "In a situation like this, nothing is fast enough."

He was speaking in Tacloban, most of which was destroyed by the storm.

Government officials have given different death tolls, both actual and estimated, as a result of the disaster.

A spokesman for the country's civil defence agency, Major Reynaldo Balido, said the figure had risen to 2,360.

But some officials estimate that the final toll, when the missing are declared dead and remote regions are reached, will be more than 10,000.

At least 600,000 people have been displaced, many of them homeless.

Workers in Tacloban have been burying scores of unidentified bodies in a mass grave as desperately needed aid begins to reach some of the half-million people displaced by the disaster.

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See HuffPost's list of ways to help the Philippines here.

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