Bohol Earthquake & Philippines Typhoon

This post is slow because it has been very difficult to write.  Our part in both of these natural disasters has been pretty much “behind the scenes” – the damage in our immediate area was relatively minimal compared to what everyone has seen on the international news.  We felt the earthquake as the floor of our thirds story apartment began to vibrate, then shake, and then ripple.  Huge trees were blown down and some roofs and walls blown off.  At our apartment building there were some plaster cracks and a lot of stuff thrown around, but no deaths or injuries.

I could repeat all of the stuff about why the Philippines is prone to so many natural disasters and the impact of poverty on the destructive cycle or all the statistics deaths and loss of housing, but I trust most of you have already heard that.  All of that doesn’t really matter when you hold a mother in your arms who is wondering if her family is dead or alive and starving, when you see the blank look of a refugee still in shock from too much loss, or a mother with small skinny children begging on the street.  All you can do is still too little, but you go and do something.  

We have seen pictures taken by some of the first rescue vehicles to reach the area.  They are pretty unbelievable.

  Yet, amid piles of refuse and death, people are doing laundry and trying to rebuild some kind of shelter from whatever debris the storm has left behind.  The biggest problem is that the storm has not only deprived them of homes, but also of livelihoods – most are farmers and fishermen – with no farms and no fishing boats.  Electric power is completely down and will take months to restore.  Communication is only available on a limited basis (lines for emergency phone calls to notify family and friends mostly, plus for military and relief work)—all communication was down for quite a while.

As an international church, we have humanitarian aid programs in place where the Church can respond promptly and efficiently in disaster situations like the present to help members and nonmembers alike.  Here in the Philippines we have received recognition among international rescue organizations and from the local government as “the group wearing the yellow tee shirts”.  Packing of relief goods continues – food, water, and hygiene kits still go out to the islands, especially rural areas which are still difficult to reach and places like Taclobon – a city of 240,000 where there is almost nothing left. (This photo is by Erik De Castro/Reuters.)  At the peak, nearly 50,000 family food packs per day were required to provide minimum sustenance to the most heavily impacted areas.  Within the church, opportunities to serve are carefully rotated so a maximum number of individuals and families got an opportunity to serve.  Even small children are encouraged to participate and given appropriate tasks so they can feel an important part of helping others.

Our church—the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints (or Mormons)— like many others is using many of its buildings as repacking areas and temporary housing of refugees as it helps them find housing and meet their immediate needs. Projects are well-planned with supplies in place, facilities readied, and plans laid out to maximize the efficiency of the preparation of family size relief packs during the repacking projects.  Most of the repacking has now been moved to centralized areas within the affected area so that there can be more flexibility in meeting individual and family needs -- and a big shift towards the provision of supplies for rebuilding homes.

 

Evacuees from the islands of Leyte & Samar continue to pour into the Cebu City and Manila.  Although the government has set up refugee camps the need exceeds availability.  Many of the people go to live with family members or into temporary housing while they try to figure out what to do next.

  On an on-going basis, we have programs in place in each local church unit to assist members through counseling, employment assistance, and other daily challenges as needs arise.  Some of the services provided by volunteers and missionaries in our Self Reliance Centers (a shift in emphasis and increase in services from the previous Employment Resource Centers) continues to be a provision of Career Workshops to teach people how to find and improve their job opportunities, job fairs, American accent classes, and individual mentoring in doing resumes, interviewing, and looking for work.

In the Philippines, if you ask how did you prepare, or how do you cope, the most common answer is, “You do all you can and then you pray.”   So when all is said and done, it really is that simple.

And then you look forward to the dawn of a new and better day.