I just donated to Catholic Relief Services for their efforts to provide relief services to the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines and urge you to join me in doing so:
- CRS will prioritize emergency shelter, water and sanitation, household relief items (blankets, kitchen items, cookware), potable water, and toilets.
- The Department of Social Welfare and Development reports approximately 9.5 million people affected over 9 regions across the Visayas region.
- There are 3 million people located within 30 miles of the direct path. There is a high level of devastation especially in these areas.
- The hardest-hit areas have no water, no food, no electricity or other supplies.
- CRS assessment teams flew to Cebu City today and reached Leyte by boat.
- Most airports remained closed to commercial traffic throughout the 4 regions of the Visayas, with Cebu City open and functioning as the logistics hub for military and UN.The geographic scale, impact, affected numbers, and casualties are being compared to the 2004 tsunami or Haiti Earthquake.
- The government has officially welcomed international assistance.
Catholic Relief Services, our partners and other aid agencies are in the process of mobilizing resources to help the government and the most affected areas. The typhoon was powerful and expansive, hitting a number of islands. It did not weaken as it passed through and hit a number of islands as a super typhoon. Based on other typhoons, like Typhoon Bopha last year, we can expect that this was a catastrophic typhoon, not only for one island but many.
Donate here.