When Jodelyn Mundo and her family were asked to move to an evacuation centre for their safety, she had feared that the strong winds and heavy rains brought by Typhoon Haima would destroy their home.
Her worst fears were realised when they returned home in Laya West, Northern Luzon, to find it severely damaged.
"Our house has no roof, and a big tree fell on top of it. We were very scared," she said. "We don't know what to do. We don’t know how to get back on our feet."
Super Typhoon Haima made landfall over the municipality of Peñablanca in Cagayan Province on the evening of 19 October 2016, with strong winds of up to 225kph near its centre and gusts of up to 315kph.
Now thousands of families like the Mundos need assistance to repair or rebuild their homes and to recoup their livelihoods.
Philippine Red Cross assessments indicate that at least 92,200 houses were damaged.
Local authorities pre-emptively evacuated more than 143,500 people to safer areas before the typhoon hit.
Typhoon Haima is the third typhoon to have affected Northern Luzon within the span of weeks after Typhoon Meranti (local name Ferdie) made landfall in September and Typhoon Sarika (local name Karen) passed through the area earlier in October, triggering minor landslides and flooding.
The collective impact of the three typhoons has left significant humanitarian needs. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reports that 92,000 people remain in 640 evacuation centres.
With no access to clean, potable water, many communities living in the typhoon-affected areas have had to rely on spring water found by the roadside for their daily use.
Strong winds and floods triggered by the typhoon have also caused damage to rice, corn and other high-value crops, affecting the livelihoods of thousands of families. It is estimated that the damage to agriculture alone exceeded 1 billion Philippine Pesos (more than 20 million US Dollars).
Farmers living in Nueva Ecija, like 18-year-old Alexis Balete, worked hard in the days leading up to the typhoon to harvest as much rice as they could.
"It's not really harvest time yet, but we have to act fast," Alexis explained. "We are trying to avoid what happened last year. We were not able to harvest in time before Typhoon Koppu struck in 2015 and we lost all our crops."
For all of their hard work, Alexis and his colleagues were able to harvest 37 sacks of rice, which was stored inside a warehouse until Haima passed. Farmers who have not managed to harvest their crops were left to salvage what they could after strong winds damaged the rice field in Cagayan.
In 2015, Typhoon Koppu left widespread damage to agricultural land in the same areas now affected by Typhoon Haima.
Earlier in the week, the Philippine Red Cross activated 40 of its chapters in Luzon to undertake preparedness measures, with some 400 personnel including staff members, community (Red Cross 143) volunteers, members of Red Cross Action Teams and walk-in volunteers to support its emergency relief efforts.
A humanitarian caravan loaded with emergency relief supplies and other equipment was mobilised to the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan to provide assistance to affected families.
To date, the Red Cross chapters in the affected provinces have assisted around 8,800 people with various activities including search and rescue, hot meals, the distribution of non-food items and psychosocial support.
Red Cross teams are also conducting rapid assessments in areas that have been particularly hard-hit.
The Philippine Red Cross' Emergency Response Unit worked quickly to remove debris and fallen trees in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.
On 23 October 2016, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched an emergency appeal for 3 million Swiss Francs (3 million US Dollars) to support the Philippine Red Cross in delivering assistance to 20,000 people affected by Typhoon Haima over a period of 10 months.
The appeal focuses on meeting people's most urgent needs including food, access to safe drinking water, essential household items, shelter and cash grants to help people restart their livelihoods. The appeal will also support health awareness and disease prevention activities as well as the provision of psychosocial support.
