Private sector alliance from Singapore heads to Hagupit landing area

A team from the Corporate Citizen Foundation (CCF) in Singapore is headed towards the area where Typhoon Hagupit is expected to make landfall in the Philippines within the next 24 hours.

The CCF's Swift Emergency Evaluation Deployment (SEED) team is led by Mr Ng Sin Ain, and the team of five will be there to find out the disaster relief needs in the aftermath of the typhoon. Hagupit is expected to make landfall on Saturday afternoon (Dec 6).

The team departed from Singapore's Seletar airport early Friday morning, bringing with them two inflatable boats with outboard motors.

"This trip we brought an inflatable boat and an outboard motor to help us breach any water obstacles ... SEED is there to do evaluation to provide information relevant to the humanitarian sector," said Mr Ng.

The team's key mission is to bring out early, accurate and synchronised information from the disaster-hit areas. It aims to provide clear and first-hand ground information that would enable incoming aid agencies to make informed decisions, rather than second-guessing what the actual ground needs are, which risks inappropriate aid and wastage.

This is the first time that CCF, which was formed on Oct 31, 2014, is responding to a natural disaster.