Disaster fund too rigid to offer timely help in Philippines, say charities

Relief agencies including Hong Kong Red Cross and Oxfam have lashed out at the government's Disaster Relief Fund, saying it is too rigid to support their operations in the Philippines.

They said the procedures required to apply for funding were inflexible and they had been restricted from doing anything other than distributing emergency goods to survivors at fixed places.

The criticism came after the six big charities in the city - World Vision, Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Unicef, Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontieres - said they had collected a combined HK$22.1 million in donations to help survivors, seven days after Typhoon Haiyan tore through the Philippines.

Red Cross and Oxfam representatives told an RTHK programme yesterday that Hongkongers remained generous when it came to helping disaster victims around the world.

But Chan Kai-ming, secretary general of the local Red Cross, said they appeared to be less generous in giving to relief efforts in the Philippines, compared with the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, and the Southeast Asian tsunami in 2004.

"It's unclear whether companies are taking into account the public sentiment [towards the Philippines] when they consider [making a donation]," Chan said.