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
