Update on Philippines Typhoon Response
21/06/2010 4:03:14 PM
For two weeks from late September 2009, the Philippines were battered by successive super typhoons causing enormous damage across the national capital region, Southern Luzon and Northern Luzon.
Almost 2 million families were affected by the disaster with close to 1,000 people killed. Flash floods and landslides exacerbated the scale of the destruction with widespread damage to infrastructure, housing and the devastation of rice and vegetable crops which were ready for harvest.
Eight months on and although many families are beginning to rebuild, the recovery process is long and arduous.
Act for Peace’s partner, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), has been responding since the onset of the disaster assisting highly affected families, including the urban poor, farmers and fishermen. With the assistance of local ecumenical partners, NCCP supported nearly 8,000 families with immediate food relief with a further 2,000 families receiving non-food items including hygiene kits, school kits, kitchen sets and sleeping materials. Following the emergency crisis phase, NCCP supported health services, trauma counselling, food for work schemes, reconstruction of housing and seed and farming tool distributions. Importantly, the NCCP was also engaged in training church volunteers in disaster preparedness and risk reduction measures to provide the knowledge and skills to mitigate against any future disasters.
As an ACT member and a registered and accredited social welfare agency in the Philippines, NCCP’s work was carried out in adherence with the standards established by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. NCCP’s response work was also closely coordinated with other members of the ACT forum in the Philippines, Christian Aid, Lutheran World Relief and UMCOR.
The generosity of Act for Peace supporters, particularly during the crisis phase of the emergency, enabled NCCP to undertake a large scale humanitarian response that benefited tens of thousands of needy people.
