Thirteen months ago, the Philippines was devastated when one of the strongest tropical storms on record, Typhoon Haiyan, made landfall on November 8th, 2013. Late Saturday, December 6th, 2014, another massive storm—Typhoon Hagupit—made landfall. Thousands of people have fled their homes in anticipation of the typhoon, which measured around 600 km across, with gusts peaking at 195km/hour. According to one report, about 40 million people were in the path of the storm’s winds.
The storm made landfall in the town of Dolores, located in the Eastern Samar province, which is part of the same region where thousands were killed by Typhoon Haiyan. Although many expected Hagupit’s impact to be as devastating as Haiyan’s, its effects, although tragic, were significantly less catastrophic than originally anticipated. However, those affected still need our help.
Please give to our disaster recovery fund to assist in relief and recovery efforts following the typhoon:
Many have been left homeless or without power or water, and rice crops have been flooded. 27 people have lost their lives to date. According to updated reports, the storm has now affected at least 70 Compassion church centres. More than 3,000 Compassion children—661 sponsored by Canadians—and a dozen people in the Child Survival Program were affected, although we continue to wait on specific details. Compassion staff at the local churches have been providing initial relief supplies and assistance. The disaster response team is also assessing the damage and deciding where to focus their efforts. Supporters of affected Compassion children will be directly as we receive more details.
Please pray for those affected as they return to their homes and clean up debris. And please support Compassion’s disaster relief efforts in the Philippines by giving to our disaster recovery fund.
