Photo stories: Asia-Pacific disasters

A series of natural disasters wracked the Asia-Pacific region within a few days at the end of September 2009, killing thousands and disrupting the lives of millions of people. UN agencies rushed to meet the humanitarian needs of the victims. In Samoa, rubble lies amid the grounds of the Falealili Secondary School after a tsunami on 29 September. (UNICEF/Phuong Nguyen)

Nearly 200 people were killed by the Pacific Ocean tsunami, while thousands of others are struggling to rebuild their lives. Children affected by the tsunami, which followed a powerful undersea earthquake, discuss the impact of the disaster with a UNICEF emergency education specialist. Psycho-social support is one of the many ways in which the agency is helping victims. (UNICEF/David Youngmeyer)

After the tsunami, which affected Samoa, Tonga and American Samoa, UNICEF has been providing materials such as water containers, water purification tablets, soap and oral rehydration salts to children and their families. A relief worker holds a collapsible water container provided by UNICEF for distribution. (UNICEF/David Youngmeyer)

In Manila, the capital of the Philippines, survivors huddle in a lifeboat after Typhoon Ketsana (also known as Ondoy) dumped more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours on 26 September. The death toll in the Philippines has climbed into the hundreds and the storm brought death and destruction in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos, and also affected China and Thailand. (UNICEF/Alquinto)

Residents use a makeshift raft to relocate children in a flooded section of Manila following Typhoon Ketsana. Two weeks later the northern part of the Philippines was pounded by Parma, another typhoon. The two storms affected more than 6 million people in total. (IRIN/Jason Gutierrez)

The World Food Programme (WFP) has used helicopters and boats to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who had become isolated by flood waters following the typhoons. WFP Country Director Stephen Anderson hands over a food package to a group of stranded residents of the town of Santa Cruz Laguna. (WFP/Veejay Villafranca)

Mud and stagnant water clogs an alleyway in Manila. The potential spread of infectious diseases and the emergence of sanitation hazards were among the biggest concerns of UN agencies after the storms struck the Philippines. (UNICEF/Wurzel)

Off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck on 30 September, severely damaging hospitals, schools, homes and other vital infrastructure. A survivor of the quake and the aftershocks waits for aid in the ruins of her home in Ketaping village near the city of Padang. (IRIN/Jefri Aries)

A mobile medical team run by Indonesian authorities and supported by the UN World Health Organization(WHO) brings assistance to a community in Sumatra. WHO is helping to deliver health care to thousands of people in the wake of the quake, which is reported to have killed more than 1,100 people. (WHO Indonesia)

A tent used by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) stands amid the rubble and damaged buildings of a school in the city of Padang. An estimated 1,000 schools were damaged by the earthquake. UNICEF has distributed hndreds of school tents, school-in-a-box kits and recreational kits so that local children can resume their schooling as soon as possible. (UNICEF/Estey)