JEDDAH, 18 July — Faced with increasing difficulty in getting funds for its humanitarian mission, the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) is asking for help from Filipinos abroad.

In a letter to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh, PNRC Secretary-General Lourdes R. Loyola said that while there is no end in sight to the calamities affecting millions of Filipinos at home, donations are coming few and far between.

“Our funding, which comes solely on public donation has become more and more difficult with the growing competition, economic crisis and donors’ fatigue,” Loyola said in a letter dated June 21 to Ambassador Rafael E. Seguis.

Loyola noted that while the PNRC is the premier humanitarian organization in the Philippines, serving as an auxiliary arm of the government in providing relief, health and welfare aid to Filipinos in need, it is not subsidized by the Philippine government.

The PNRC has 86 chapters across the Philippine archipelago, providing service in terms of relief, blood, first aid and rescue, health and welfare.

It had been serving an average of 15 million “vulnerable” people, including victims of fighting, typhoons, earthquakes, fire, drought, and accidents. It has also a regular program for disadvantaged women and street children.

“Today, we are preparing for the most dreaded El Nino, which in l998, hit our country, particularly the Southern Mindanao, and brought starvation and dislocation to thousands of families,” Loyola’s letter said.

The letter was referring to the long dry spell of 1998, which adversely affected hundreds of thousands of farming families, mostly Muslims and Christians, in the Cotabato and Davao provinces.

The Red Cross worked together with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and local government officials in providing relief to starving families.

Since last week, the PNRC went full swing with its relief operation for thousands of families affected or displaced by floods brought by three successive typhoons and continuous monsoon rains in the Philippines.

Teresita Usapdin, the PNRC’s acting director for fund generation, said the Red Cross has so far served a total of 20,571 families comprising 112,240 persons sheltered at evacuation centers.

Usapdin said relief and medical operations are still being conducted in worst hit provinces and towns in northern and southern Luzon.

According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council, over 190,000 families composed of about 918,000 persons have been affected by floodwaters.

Worst to be hit by floods were low-lying villages in Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Bataan, La Union and Pangasinan.

Typhoons “Chataan” (local code name “Gloria”), “Nakri” (“Hambalos”) and “Halong” (“Inday”) hit the country in quick succession since the first week of July, inundating 11 provinces and eight cities in Northern and Central Luzon including Metro Manila.

Because of floods, election for village officials have been suspended in about 300 communities, news reports from Manila had said.

Some 40 persons have died, mostly from drowning, while 28 were injured and several more are still missing and feared dead.

Red Cross relief goods consisted of rice, noodles, biscuits, canned goods and used clothings.

The Red Cross has appealed for more donations to enable them to continue with their relief work in the evacuation centers in the still flooded areas.