Snapshot from Northern Cebu
My heart sinks to read of the chaos + desperation in Leyte, with lack of security bottlenecking aid efforts to the hungry and trapped. But I'm sharing a couple bright spots, photos from two efforts making headway.
1. Market Manila + ZubuFoods Relief Run
This is from a Cebu family. The dad, Joel, has a popular food blog called Market Manila, and also runs a chain of restaurants. He, his family, and staff have been taking donations and organizing their own run through Northern Cebu (blocked roads were cleared, so aid can penetrate, unlike on Leyte).
Concrete houses in this area mostly survived (minus the roof).
Relief efforts in Northern Cebu
Their relief trip and more photos
here. His daughter, Isabel, set up an account on Indiegogo if you want to donate
here.
Joel writes:
What was truly amazing in the midst of hunger and desperation, was that everyone was so incredibly polite, so grateful, so appreciative and so darned proper. Some of these folks hadn’t had a drink of fresh water in days (but at least they had some coconuts) nor stocks of rice, but they were calm and still had smiles despite the difficult circumstances. In true provincial style, the older folks inquired after who specifically was providing the aid or assistance and when told it was a Cebuano family (working on behlaf of hundreds of donors around the world), graciously said they would say a prayer of thanks for all that lent a hand…
2. Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) / Telecom Without Borders in Leyte
Setting up satellite communications at Tacloban City General Hospital, at the request of the Department of Health. The need for medical care is rife. TSF’s satellite connection will allow for hospital workers to communicate directly with medical teams on a national scale and provide well-coordinated health support to the thousands of victims seriously injured by the typhoon.
Station allowing Tacloban residents to email families and let them know they're safe.
Telecom Without Borders goes in disaster / conflict zones, getting communications (critical to coordinating aid, security and medical care) back up. They rushed into the Visayas before the storm hit, to be on the ground helping.
More about their work in Leyte here, and
here, and
donate to support their work here.
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Region-Specific Info Updates on the Crisis
I'm combing through for localized info, photos etc. Here's two spots for more info. If you know of specific blogs / Facebook pages documenting a particular city / area, post in the comments and I'll add it:
Bangon Philippines is breaking down stats per area, and posting the status of each affected region. They have specific info on affected regions, and who on the the ground is coordinating the smaller relief efforts.
Bantayan Island Association
This is a business association, but they're updating with info on relief efforts on the island (a small one off North Cebu). Luckily casualties were relatively small, but it was a poor island to begin with and housing stock has been completely trashed. My friend Martha's mom lives in Madridejos, and while they could use food, what she asked for was "building supplies."
To specifically help out Madridejos, you could do a bank transfer to Maria Atienza (below), or visit this page to get more info.
Maria Atienza
BPI Acct. No. 8109-1449-17
Bank of the Phil Islands
M.H Del Pilar Branch
Ermita, Manila, The Philippines
Swift Code/ BIC: BOPIPHMM
Malapascua Island Relief Project
Malapascua is a smaller island that was totally ravaged by Yolanda. They also need help, but aren't getting the media that Leyte is.
First wave of relief efforts to be shipped out to Malapascua.
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Lastly, the larger groups are perfectly fine to target with donations. This is just additional info. So if you want to give, Gawad Kalinga, Shelterbox, PH Red Cross, Unicef, and any other major ones can use whatever you donate. Thanks for keeping the Philippines in your thoughts.