The U.S. military command for the Pacific said it is standing by to provide help to flood-ravaged areas of the southern Philippines, should the request come, while a relief fundraiser is planned for Monday at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu.

Merle Koury, an assistant specialist and Office of Student Services director in the University of Hawaii’s School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, has family in Cagayan de Oro, one of the hardest-hit cities.

Although she said her mother and sister are OK and the family’s home was not damaged, the number of dead and missing from flooding by Typhoon Washi a week ago has topped 1,000.

The dead are being buried in mass graves, and health officials fear the spread of disease.

"Right now it is getting worse," Koury said. "Every day (the death toll) is rising. Many residents don’t have potable water at this time."

Koury said she is heartbroken after learning that a professor she knew at Capitol University, where she worked for 17 years, had perished with two family members in the flooding.

"My mom said that coffins are really in need," said Koury, who had a trip planned to Cagayan de Oro before the flooding, and plans to leave for the Philippines Wednesday.

International assistance has started to pour in. The United Nations asked Thursday for an additional $28.6 million in international relief funding over and above $38 million previously requested. The U.N. said 1,060 people are dead or missing.

"We’re standing by to see if the (Philippine) embassy is going to request our assistance, but at this point no assets have been deployed and we haven’t been asked to provide assistance," said Navy Lt. Theresa Donnelly, a spokeswoman for U.S. Pacific Command headquartered at Camp Smith.

Paul Cortes, deputy consul general for the Philippines in Honolulu, said he hadn’t received any requests from Manila seeking assistance from U.S. Pacific Command.

Toy Arre, president of the Filipino Community Center, said donations can be sent to the center at 94-428 Mokuola St., Suite 302, Waipahu 96797. Donors should make checks payable to "Typhoon Sendong Relief." A fundraising event also is planned from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday at the center, and officials are trying to line up entertainment.

"We’re asking the different Filipino organizations to man the collection desk in blocks of one or two hours," Arre said.

Arre said relief donations will be collected through the end of December and will be sent to archbishops in the hardest-hit areas.

"It’s Christmas, and it’s supposed to be a happy occasion, loved ones being with loved ones, and when disaster hits close to the heart during the happiest season, especially for all the staunchly Catholic in the Philippines, it just hits quite strongly," Cortes said.