AUSTRALIANS have no prejudice when it comes to dealing with disaster, says the Filipino consul-general to the Northern Territory.
The NT government handed the Red Cross a cheque for $10,000 on Sunday to help with relief efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines just over a week ago, while a national trauma response team deployed on Wednesday with a fully-portable hospital.
Consul-General John Rivas says the 8000-strong Filipino community in the Territory has been touched by the generosity shown by the rest of the country.
"It's the inherent nature of Australians to be very responsive to the cause, and they will bend backwards and forwards to help," he told AAP.
"Australians are unique because there's no racial barrier in terms of assistance - we are as one."
A community event held by the Filipino Association of the NT (FAANT) on Saturday night saw 2000 people raise $20,000 with more pledges rolling in, and so many bands and entertainers wanted to perform that a second event will be held next month.
One nine-year-old boy donated his entire week's pocket money.
"It breaks my heart," said Judith Ventic, the association's vice president.
The National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTRC) on Wednesday sent a team of 37 to the hardest-hit city of Tacloban, which Mr Rivas said was being referred to as the "city of stench".
The team there is running a full 60-bed hospital, with two operating theatres, said centre director Len Notaras.
Yesterday they saw 55 people, performed five operations, and will see more than 3500 patients over the next two weeks before a second team rotates in to replace them.
"This is a first for Australia, coming out of the Northern Territory," Dr Notaras told reporters in Darwin.
He said the significance of the damage couldn't be underestimated.
"It's up there with the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami - the death, destruction and tragedy that has occurred, and the next few weeks are going to be critical in rebuilding Tacloban and the areas around it," he said.
"The first of the support is there and working very, very well. We will make a difference and there will be lives saved."
The primary concern over the coming days and weeks would be public and environmental health issues, with contagious disease outbreaks possible if infrastructure isn't repaired.
He said local authorities were responding well, with the first sanitation facilities put in place on Sunday morning.
The centre was ensuring the Australian doctors don't become overwrought in appalling conditions, Dr Notaras said.
"The huge tragedy they've seen, bodies upon bodies, the trauma and the work - almost 24 hours a day in some circumstances - we don't want to exhaust a resource so it becomes less than safe and adequate," he said.
"We're bringing first-world medicine to a circumstance we saw in Haiti and other places, where third-world responses were being conducted. We're endeavouring to bring the very best of the best."
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