This is a full-blown humanitarian crisis – can you help?

Imagine if it had been us. Up to 10,000 dead, more than half a million displaced. Schools and hospitals gone, communities isolated. Sanitation destroyed and law and order breaking down as the starving struggle to find food.

The Philippines is home to about 100 million people. One in ten of those have been affected by the strongest typhoon ever to hit land. How would we be coping? Our families, our friends, our homes. Loved ones dead or missing, no food, no water no electricity. Imagine how afraid you would be, how desperate you feel looking up to the sky in the hope of seeing aid being flown in.

Those that have survived need our help. They need emergency shelter, clean water and food. That’s why DEC have launched their appeal, and that’s why I’m urging LabourList readers to give what they can.

Because, as you will have seen on your TV screens, this is a full-blown humanitarian crisis. In the province of Leyte, the UN has aid the scale of destruction is on a par with the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004. We’ve all seen the heartbreaking pictures from Tacloban on the evening news, and I’m sure everyone reading this will want to make sure we give those on the ground the best possible chance to rescue and rebuild as many lives as possible.

As we start to move from the shock at events to the first tentative steps to recovery the situation on the ground is desperate. Airports, seaports and roads are seriously damaged, travel can be painfully slow, and that’s causing real problems for the thousands of dedicated aid workers desperate to get in and start saving lives and rebuilding a country that has been torn apart.

With many families struggling at home helping those in need won’t be easy, but there’s no doubt that that even a small donation can make a big difference.

Over the weekend many of us will have a night out and pay maybe £15 for a round of drinks. I’m not suggesting you stay at home but in the Philippines £15 could pay for water purification tablets for 6 families for a month. So if you haven’t already done so why not think of making a donation before you go out for the night.

The UK has got a proud record of standing up to be counted when others are in need and the organisations that make up the Disaster Emergency Committee are the best in the world. They are great at what they do, they make a real difference and they deserve out support.

In the last week, the British people have once again shown their extraordinary capacity for generosity. The government has rightly pledged £20 million. So far the public have already given £23 million with more being given every minute. I hope the government will match the public donations pound for pound over the next few days. Times are tough, but families across the UK have dug deep to give what they can. And if you haven’t given I’m asking you to give a little too.

Jim Murphy is the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development