Two weeks after heavy rains caused widespread flooding in the Philippine capital, several areas of Manila remain waterlogged raising fears of mass outbreaks of disease, the UN's top humanitarian official has said.
- Speaking to Al Jazeera from Manila, John Holmes said the impact of two successive storms had created a "double disaster" for the Philippines which was stretching available relief resources.
- Millions of people had been affected and made homeless by the storms, he said, while some areas in the north of the country remained cut off by landslides and washed out roads.
- In Manila, Holmes said, residents of some areas of the city continued to live in flooded homes, with fears that water levels may not go down for weeks or even months.
- "People are still living amongst it, wading through it, children are playing in it, which of course raises risks of communicable diseases of a very serious kind," he said.
- In addition he said there were also worries about the impact of the storm on food supplies, with hundreds of acres of farmland and vital rice crops destroyed.
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