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Victims in the Philippines Battered by Storms Need Your Help

Bill — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:51:09 +0000

In eight days time, two powerful storms, typhoons Ketsana and Parma (or Pepeng as it is know locally) have battered the Northern Philippines Islands just north of the heavily populated Manila area. As of 6:30 a.m. today, Manila local time, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) of the Philippines reported 243 dead with several others missing. An estimated 390 thousand persons in the flooded areas are staying in 561 evacuation centers located in areas near Rizal, Marikina, Quezon City, Taguig and Pasig.

While clean up efforts will take months, relief efforts have already begun.

Evacuation from flooded parts of the Philippines. Photo source indianexpress.com

Sheree Ann, a local ministry youth worker, living in Baguio City, 127 miles north of Manila is ready to help. “I got news from friends and church workers from different areas of Manila especially from those churches who were with the Luzon Convention of Southern Baptist Churches. Resoundingly they said they need money to help the victims of the typhoons.”, Sheree Ann said. She is taking up a donation for the victims in Manila and surrounding areas in which all of the money donated will go to help the people displaced by the flooding. You can contact Sheree Ann via her Facebook page.

According to their website, World Vision of The Philippines is also aiding relief efforts. To donate to World Vision, click here.

News articles and video resources:

World Vision Launches Relief Efforts in the Philippines and Pre-positions Supplies in Taiwan

seniorSOY — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:21:39 +0000

ISABELA PROVINCE, Philippines /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — World Vision will begin relief operations this evening in Isabela Province, one of the areas wracked by Typhoon Parma.

“We are not waiting for sunrise,” says Fe Olonan, World Vision programme manager in Northern Luzon. “We will begin distributing rice and other food, as well as candles, in the next few hours.”

Some 200 families in Isabela had been evacuated Friday night in preparation of Typhoon Parma. The typhoon, however, changed its course and speed and made landfall in Cagayan Saturday around 3 pm (local time). Olonan said that much more assistance will be needed in Cagayan, a nearby province four hours’ drive from Isabela. World Vision staff have also reported that Cagayan’s capital, Tuguegarao, is being hit hard by Parma’s severe winds, with gusts of 204 kilometers per hour (167 mph). Roofs are being blown off homes and other buildings.

“We also are worried about the flooding in low-lying areas alongside the Cagayan River,” she said from Isabela. “World Vision has pre-positioned 350 sacks of rice in Cagayan for possible relief distribution. Additional food items will be provided by the local government. However, as of this time, we have no means to say if the supplies are enough.”

According to Olonan, it is currently impossible to assess the needs and extent of damage in Cagayan. “Assessments will be conducted as soon as the weather calms down.”

There are 10 coastal municipalities in Cagayan Province, which, as of 2007, had a population exceeding 10 million. World Vision is also concerned about the long-term recovery for survivors of Parma and Typhoon Ketsana, which slammed into the Island nation last Sunday. With extensive crop damage on farms, many livelihoods will be lost for several months and food will be at a premium. In Manila, survivors of Typhoon Ketsana said the cost of some food had doubled. Six days after Ketsana struck, some communities around Manila remain submerged in waist-deep water. Moreover, the presence of stagnant water raises concerns about waterborne diseases.

Meanwhile, World Vision is monitoring the path of Typhoon Parma and is launching preparations for a possible relief response in Taiwan. The relief organization has already pre-positioned supplies and staff in rural areas of southern Taiwan, especially in places previously affected by Typhoon Morakot. In some villages, World Vision has prepared up to two weeks worth of supplies, such as clean water, food, and gas for electric generators.

World Vision has been actively responding to the devastation from earlier Typhoon Ketsana in the Philippines, in most affected areas of Manila where thousands of families were submerged in the recent flood. The organization is delivering aid to 20,000 families in Marikina, Cainta, Pasig and Rizal and also opening Child-Friendly Spaces and a medical mission.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.

Click here to Donate to World Vision Flood relief efforts.

World Vision Says Asian Disasters Should Be Wake-Up Call For Global Leaders

seniorSOY — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:19:14 +0000

BANGKOK /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — World Vision, one of the world’s leading emergency response agencies, says the recent series of disasters throughout Asia should be a wake-up call to the global community to fund efforts that reduce risk and save lives. The aid agency, an expert in disaster risk reduction (DRR), works with communities all over the world to help reduce their vulnerabilities to disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis, and says that DRR funding must be a priority for global governments and donors.

“Disasters are becoming increasingly costly in terms of lives and destruction,” said Melisa Bodenhamer, World Vision’s expert in DRR. “There must be a paradigm shift in the way that organizations think about development work, but the goal is to be systematic about building up the resiliency of communities before a disaster hits. DRR activities can help reduce the toll on human lives and government budgets. In fact, research has shown that every $1 spent on disaster risk reduction activities saves nearly $7 in emergency response funds.”

For DRR to have a significant impact on lives and livelihoods, action needs to be taken at a number of levels. Ongoing success in DRR will involve a mix of structural elements, including more and better designed infrastructure and housing, and non-structural elements such as education and early warning systems.

World Vision advocates for a minimum of 10 percent of development funding to be set aside for risk reduction activities. Natural disasters have always occurred, and the poor suffer most from them. But DRR activities can — and do — help communities identify and reduce the vulnerabilities families faced by natural disasters. The risk of disaster impact can be reduced by helping communities develop early warning systems, establish risk mapping techniques and hold trainings to teach communities how to reduce their vulnerabilities and protect themselves in the event of a disaster.

As a second massive storm bears down on the Philippines, a proposed national law on DRR in the Philippines is stalled at the committee level at the Lower House. The DRR Bill would put a priority on disaster risk reduction and management, and it also seeks to institutionalize the disaster risk reduction plans in the federal budget.

“We have been pushing for the passage of this bill for over a decade now,” said Minnie Portales, World Vision’s advocacy and communications director in the Philippines. “We cannot afford to have another Typhoon Ketsana destroy our property or cause so much suffering to our children and families.”

World Vision is the lead agency of the Disaster Risk Reduction Network (DRRNet) in the Philippines. DRRNet is a network of disaster risk reduction advocates and practitioners throughout the country. According to DRRNet, the Philippines’ vulnerability to disasters has increased immensely throughout the years, resulting in the loss of lives, livelihood, and property.

This call to action comes as a second massive storm bears down on the island nation. Ensuring sustained political commitment to DRR is critical, not only to reduce losses in a more disaster prone world, but also to prevent natural disasters unwinding progress already made in reducing poverty and suffering.

World Vision has been working with the world’s poorest people for nearly 60 years to ease the impact of disasters when they occur and implement strategies to reduce the effect of future disaster events. World Vision uses its past experience to help the most vulnerable, particularly children, recover from natural disasters and increase their resilience to future climate induced setbacks. The agency works in 100 countries, and it currently has DRR programs in Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, among other nations.

World Vision will release a full report on its DRR call-to-action for the global community in Bangkok on 6 October 2009 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference.