Report on Philippines Disaster Relief

13 December 2013

Report on Philippines Disaster Relief

Dear Confreres, Friends, Benefactors, Donors and Volunteers,

Greetings to everyone. It is with newly found hope that we write you about developments in our relief effort for the victims of earthquake in Bohol and super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in Central Visayas.

It is now 2 months since the earthquake and a little more than a month since the typhoon. Since then, we now see some signs of life after having been knocked out by twin calamities. In Bohol, repairs of destroyed major bridges have been completed, houses and buildings are now being rebuilt, businesses are getting back to normal.

We shall be shipping last segment of relief goods next week. This portion shall include noche buena packages as Christmas is nearing. Rehabilitation is now underway and medical missions are still being conducted. We shall be distributing building materials like galvanized iron, lumber, plywood, nails, cement, and hollow blocks. We are planning to conduct our own medical missions next week in the towns of Maribojoc, Antequera, Loon, Loon and Calape. We got a good amount of donated medicines from Germany, US and local donors and many doctors, nurses and pharmacists expressed interest to help. Slowly, life seems to be getting back to normal as we greet Christmas holidays with renewed joy. Nevertheless, those who were severely affected by the earthquake, life remains painful, especially those whose houses were completely destroyed and whose family members perished in the calamity. May the celebration of Christ's birth sustain their sense of hope and resilience.

In Leyte and other parts of Central Visayas hit by the typhoon Haiyan, the situation is also getting brighter although there is still so much

suffering among many areas. Last week, for the first time, an area near our school and hospital got an electric connection. Public transportation

is back in service, the airport in Tacloban City is now very much open for flights from Manila and Cebu although the terminal building still

remains greatly damaged. Schools remain closed. Our school, the Liceo del Verbo Divino, will resume classes only on January 8, 2014.

Our relief efforts for Haiyan (Yolanda) have transposed into rehabilitation level. After delivering close to two dozen truckloads of emergency relief goods to northern Cebu and Leyte, we are now delivering building materials to hard hit areas. The building materials we give are galvanized iron, plywood, "amacan", nails of different sizes, lumber, hand saw and hammer. The first destination for building materials was northern Cebu in the towns of Daan Bantayan, Bogo and Medelien and in the island of Bantayan. In Leyte, the destinations were Dulag, Tanauan, Tolosa and nearby towns. More

distributions are in the pipeline, but we encountered serious problem ‐ supplies of materials are running out. We have to wait for more than a week for fresh supplies to come from Manila and other parts of the Philippines. Some materials even have to be sourced from far Mindanao. Fr. Tony Salas has to crisscross Visayas and Mindanao to ensure continuous flow of supply. For lumber, we hire chain saw operators to slice fallen coconut trees to get cheaper cost.

As of this writing, the supply line from Cebu is already empty. Hopefully, we can access replenishment soon. In the meantime we are looking for other activities like cash for work, visiting families of SVD confreres and SSpS sisters, gathering data of beneficiaries, planning for medical missions, establishing linkages with donor institutions to rebuild, refurbish, repair our school, hospital and radio stations and other charitable institutions like kindergartens, shelter of abused children, home of abandoned boys and girls, etc.

The St. Arnold Medical Mission Inc. (SAMMI), with the electrical connection in place, is now close to getting normal in its operations. But for one month, they offered services for free. Few days ago they started to receive medical fees already. SAMMI was tremendously damaged by the typhoon being near the sea but it didn't give in to the temptation to close down. With all the mess and so much destruction it continued to operate with the thought that if they'd stop operation where else the people would go. In its most difficult times, SAMMI was the only functioning hospital in the city. Manned by volunteer doctors and medical practitioners and supplied by donations, without water and electricity, they continue to be a place of healing and respite without fees. The first group of medical practitioners who came to help were from Davao. Few days later, doctors and medical aides from Korea came. Until now the Koreans are still in the hospital helping. SAMMI, very sadly, lost almost all of its very expensive equipments ‐ MRI, CT scan, x‐ray, 2D Echo, ultra sound, etc.

Donations, cash and in kind, continue to flow in from many corners of the globe. Countries like Germany, Austria, Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the US and Taiwan were the top grossers. Other donations came from Spain, Ecuador, Papua Guinea, Hongkong, Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Canada. From Germany, aside from cash donations, we got 120 boxes of medicines and medical supplies intended for Bohol and Tacloban. A group from Germany pledged to send three container vans of food items. From Hongkong we are awaiting 290 boxes of goods too. Local donors can't be outdone. For good measures, we got large amount of donations from many areas of the Philippines.

Relief operations are getting bigger and bigger each time a calamity would strike. There is no sign of donor or volunteer fatigue ‐ a

phenomenon that reciprocates the victims' will to survive and to move on. Christmas is closing in, the birth of Christ is made authentic and intimate in everyone's heart through sincere efforts of sharing the load of all those affected by the twin calamities.

Best wishes to all!

Relief Operation Team

SVD ‐ PHS

cc: Fr. Eduardo Rocha, SVD

Provincial Superior