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Typhoon Relief Effort Expands
Published on: November 19, 2013
YWAM teams from the Philippines and from many other nations have now arrived in the typhoon Haiyan disaster zone. They are busy providing medical care, transportation of relief supplies, body recovery, and many other services. They face urgent needs for supplies and for more workers.
To donate, please click here and pick “Typhoon Haiyan Relief” from the dropdown list.
In the flattened town of Tanuan, a RescueNet team has helped run a temporary hospital that has been set up in the damaged town hall. They have treated deep wounds caused by flying debris. Twelve babies have been born in the town hall, two by C-section. The clinic needs medicine and more medical workers.
In the same town, the RescueNet team also helped recover bodies from the river. An outreach team from YWAM Manila has helped with the same grim task in another hard-hit city, Tacloban, where they helped to recover more than 300 bodies.
Michelle Thompson of RescueNet assists with relief distribution
YWAM Mindanao has provided two vehicles to Eastern Leyte. These vehicles are crucially needed for distribution of relief supplies. The food and water sits at the airport waiting to get out to the people who need it.
In Tacloban, seven YWAM workers distributed an entire dump-truck load of relief supplies. They handed out thousands of packages. Said team leader Mitch Metzger, “The people asked for water, water, water. The wells are dirty and there is no city water yet.”
In Cebu, YWAM workers packed 1,000 sacks of relief goods, which contained rice, hygiene kits and water jugs.
In addition, YWAM relief teams are currently researching small islands that may have been damaged but overlooked until now.
Currently, YWAM relief teams have arrived from South Korea, the Netherlands, South Africa, the USA, Singapore, and other countries. They are coordinating with many other relief agencies in the area.
Many of these YWAM teams have been hard at work even before typhoon Haiyan struck. A Discipleship Training School outreach team from Mexico heard about the October 15 earthquake in Bohol, Philippines, came to help, and now has joined in with the relief effort from typhoon Haiyan. A YWAM Philippines relief team from Cebu has similarly worked to care for victims of the Bohol earthquake and now they continue their work as they assist victims of the typhoon. They have been working on disaster relief for four weeks.
YWAM Philippines currently has a large room to house more relief workers in Tacloban. They ask teams to please bring all their own food and to come with water purifiers. They are looking for a long-term relief and development center in the area. They are gearing up for a rebuilding effort that will take years.
YWAM needs more outreach teams to help with the distribution of food and water. To contact YWAM Cebu directly, click here.
Said a YWAM worker in Cebu, “Praise God for His grace. The Lord is building a church without walls. Disaster brought the people of God together. Every tongue, every tribe, every nation is bringing glory to God as we unite ourselves to serve people who need a lot of comfort in this time of calamity.”
Donations to YWAM’s relief efforts go directly to the teams on the ground. Since YWAM teams do not get paid salaries and have very low overhead, almost all the funds go to the relief efforts in the Philippines. Please give generously as God leads.
For frequent updates on YWAM’s typhoon relief efforts, visit the YWAM Philippines Facebook page, or the YWAM global Facebook page.
Home page photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters