By Allison Morris | Director, Corporate and Foundations
Just over a year ago, Typhoon Haiyan, swept across the Philippines leaving chaos and destruction in its path. More than 6,000 people lost their lives and 4.1 million people were uprooted from their homes.
When you learned about how this storm had impacted communities and families, you donated to support emergency response relief and recovery efforts - Thank you! Your generosity has made a real impact on the lives of Filipino families.
In the first weeks after Typhoon Haiyan, Mercy Corps coordinated with with partners and provided food, water and emergency supplies such as blankets, soap, and shelter materials to more than 18,000 people. Mercy Corps' emergency response focused on communities that had received little or no aid and those living in remote areas. In addition, Mercy Corps established two child-safe spaces to help children process fear and trauma. In addition, with your support the organization worked with partners to improve water and sanitation services for 5,000 people living on remote islands – building toilets and hand-washing facilities in schools, repairing community wells and providing water filters.
Mercy Corps knows that even as emergency response teams were helping survivors meet their immediate needs, they must also begin the work of longer-term recovery and rebuilding. It became clear that survivors had an accute need for money so early 2014 Mercy Corps launched an emergency cash assistance program. The assistance provided families the resources to begin their own recovery process, depending on their needs and priorities – to buy food, repair their homes, and restart their businesses.
One of the first individuals to sign up for the cash assistance program was Florida Go, pictured below. Florida and her husband Realino Go were lucky to emerge from the devastating storm alive, but like millions of others, found their world destroyed. Their only source of income — the humble candymaking business they ran out of their kitchen — was wiped away. With cash assistance they were able to get their business back up and running. Watch their inspiring story here.
In partnership with BanKO, a microfinance bank in the Philippines, recovery teams made electronic cash transfers through mobile phones to 25,500 families, like the Gos. For many families, the mobile accounts are the first formal bank accounts they have ever had access to, and the accounts allow them to store, spend and save their money. Many recipients have used the funds to rebuild after the storm and some families have managed to accrue some savings, a small but important safety net for future crises.
Thank you again for bringing help and hope to Typhoon Haiyan survivors!
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
