“The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” Lamentations 3:19-24
On 8 November 2013, a super typhoon called Haiyan (also known as Yolanda) hit the Philippines with record breaking wind speed, causing widespread destruction and killing many. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the people of the Philippines. We hold on to the promise that God is with us, even in the bitter suffering of natural disasters.
Emmanuel International in the Philippines
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Once the immediate needs are dealt with, any additional funds will be used for the rehabilitation of the affected areas by Emmanuel International in the Philippines.
EI Canada update 31 March 2014:
Watch this video for an update of what Emmanuel International has been doing in partnership with EI Canada, EI Philippines and other roleplayers.
Monday 17 February 2014:
Note: The video is 15:44 mins long. Please watch until the end. The last minutes show the helpers behind the scene… ERRP is Emmanuel International in the Philippines.
This was the first wave of help that we have been involved in December 2013 for the victims of Yolanda (Haiyan) in Ormoc and Tacloban, Leyte. Since then, we have dug 25 wells and made another wave of help in Guiuan, Samar. We are at the same time looking after the victims of earthquake in Bohol. (Report from Alex Pacis)
Thursday 16 January 2013:
Alex Pacis tells us more about how the digging of wells fit in with relief work:
Each deep well is about £1250.00 ($2000). It relieves people from water shortage for drinking, bathing, washing and other household water usage. Instead of using expensive bottled water which would also put more pressure on our environment, these wells will serve affected communities even beyond the emergency situation for many years to come. Each well is also looked after by a church who will make sure that the wells continue to serve communities.
Also on Friday 13 December 2013:
Another 1500 hot meals for the people of Barangay Caibaan, Tacloban City, reported by Noel Taban.
and
Emmanuel International and Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches partnered to distribute 300 shelter repair kits in Ormoc, Leyte including transportation allowance for each recipient as well as something special for Christmas dinner. We need many more of these kits to help countless people whose homes were destroyed by the typhoon.
Report on Friday 13 December 2013:
The Team that took relief goods to Ormoc and Tacloban consisted of 45 people. Some from Hong Kong, Virginia Beach, USA, Stouffville and Mississauga, Ontario, Manila and Cagayan de Oro working with local churches in Ormoc and Tacloban to reach to thousands with relief goods, hot meals and spiritual nourishments. They are on their way back to Cagayan de Oro now. But the work is not done. We are going to stay for at least a couple of years and continue to help churches help their communities to alleviate poverty and suffering for now and for eternity.
Pastor Noel Taban with a sign translated “Stand Up Tacloban!”, is going to stay to help rebuild houses, churches, dig wells and provide people with help to get back on their feet with livelihood programs.
We believe that wells will help churches provide clean water for the communities thereby eliminating the need for much more expensive bottled water. They will also be serving the communities for a long long time and therefore a much more cost effective investment for critically needed source of water especially in times of calamities.
Helping churches with their roofs will allow the churches to make their buildings a refuge for the coming months and years where traditional evacuation centres are still unavailable having been destroyed and will remain unavailable for years to come. The church buildings will also be the place where communities could meet for coordination and spiritual counselling.
Helping people get back to their homes, instead of living in tents, will allow them to get back to some normalcy in their lives. In this way, we can look at how they may go about them getting their old livelihood back to whatever they used to do before the typhoon.
This is a long term commitment. They need it and we need your help to do it!
Thank you for continuing to partner with us.
Report on Sunday 8 December 2013:
We are sending 10 volunteer doctors from Manila to Tacloban to meet with our convoy and attend to the medical needs of the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Our leading physician is Dr. Sen Basoc, a board member of Emmanuel Relief and Rehabilitation International. She was given medical supplies awarded to ERRP from the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, one of our partner agencies in the convoy to Tacloban.
Report on Friday 6 December 2013:
Over the next two weeks Emmanuel International in the Philippines, as part of a group of organizations that are working together will bring over 35 tons of food, water and relief aid to Ormoc City and Tacloban City. A group of 30 volunteers is leaving today in a convoy from the Island of Mindanao to arrive in Ormoc City in two days time. We are planning 3 days of relief work there and then moving on to Tacloban City to do the same. We will help provide the following:
- 10,000 meals for 3000 people over 3 days in Ormoc City and 3 days in Tacloban City.
- Offer grief and disaster counseling to those who need it.
- 3000 blankets
- 1500 Sleeping Bags
- 1500 Mosquito Nets
- 250 boxes of canned goods
- 5000 kilos of clothing
After this relief effort is complete a team of volunteer construction workers will then help repair 500 homes over a 4 day period.
A group of 11 volunteer doctors from Manila carrying medical supplies will help in both cities until they have run out of supplies.
We have identified 13 Churches in the surrounding communities where we are digging a shallow well and providing a roof for the church. This will help over 400 families with fresh, clean water for drinking and preparing food. This also gives each community a place to be safe and dry.
Report on Monday 18 November 2013:
A report by the Rapid Assessment Teams, sent into Ground zero of typhoon Haiyan aftermath, has been received. Pastor Alex in the Philippines says: “We have this to initially base our movements into the most devastated areas. Noel is leaving Tuesday from Toronto to conduct the second wave of survey and investigate the immediate action plan. On December 5, we are sending a large contingency with at least 3 cargo trucks coming out of Cagayan De Oro, which will serve as our safe launching pad, to make our first big push into the relief and rehabilitation process. We anticipate being there for months and years even. We are also immediately implementing shelter repair kits and well digging to ease the pressure of water shortage and avoid the use of water bottles. More reports coming.”
Report on Tuesday 12 November 2013:
Emmanuel Relief and Rehabilitation in the Philippines (ERRP) has dispatched two teams to look at different areas to see what can be done to help and assist those most in need and neglected. We are awaiting a full update and will post this as soon as we receive information.
All our EI staff are safe and away from the damaged area.
We heard from the Philippines: “The area of the disaster is The Visayas group of islands. The provinces mostly hit are Leyte and Samar but many other provinces are affected substantially. Some media people estimate the death toll to reach 10 000 but only what is communicated to the government could be counted and it is almost impossible to communicate from affected areas at this time.”