Following three succeeding earthquakes that hit southern Mindanao last month, World Vision launched its relief operations to help the af...
To
complement the efforts of the local government, World Vision provided non-food
items such as hygiene kits (bath and laundry soaps, toothbrushes and
toothpastes, sanitary packs, nail cutter, undergarments and malong or tube
skirt), jerry cans, mosquito net, mats, and blankets, and emergency shelter
kits (tarp and rope) among others.
 |
|
|
 |
| A kid raises his newly received hygiene kit from World Vision. |
 |
| World Vision volunteer gives instructions before the start of the distribution. |
 |
| One of the evacuees receives one set of emergency needs from the World Vision volunteers. |
 |
| A happy recipient rushing to her shelter after receiving the kits from World Vision. |
 |
| A mother and her son happily check the World Vision kit that they received. |
World
Vision also focused its efforts to address the special needs of children
affected by the quake. Interventions such as child-friendly spaces
and temporary learning centers provided children with psychosocial support and
a safe place to learn and play.
As of
November 12, World Vision has reached at least 947 affected families with
emergency shelter kits, hygiene kits, non-food items, and clean water kits (459
in the City of Kidapawan and 488 in the Municipality of Tulunan), 602 affected
children with psychosocial support through child-friendly spaces in
school-based evacuation centers in the City of Kidapawan, and 354 school
children with 2 temporary learning spaces in their affected school in the
Municipality of Makilala.
With the
help of generous individuals and companies like Owndays Philippines, J&J,
Emerson, Nexus, and RichMedia Inc., the aim to assist 1000 families or 5000
individuals will soon be achieved.
More Help is Needed
Bringing
help to the hard-hit earthquake sites are not without challenges. In Tulunan,
World Vision response team had to brave the landslide-prone areas in order to
reach the survivors including the indigenous tribe B’laan.
“Every
day since the quake, we had to walk at least two hours to go here and wait for
help,” said 5-month pregnant Chona. She leaves her makeshift shelter at 6
o’clock in the morning and goes back at around 4 in the afternoon, depending on
the schedule of relief distributions.
Analiza,
another B’laan from a different sitio shared, “We have no choice but to do
this. Most of us are farm workers, but our farms were damaged not only by the
quake but by the landslides. It’s not easy.”
While
help has reached some of the quake-affected families, challenges remain to
rebuild their communities, and to start with their lives anew.
"Thank
you for partnering with us as we help fellow Filipinos affected by the Mindanao
earthquake. Much needs to be done and we hope that God will continue to enable
us to help reach the most vulnerable children and communities”, says World
Vision Executive Director Rommel Fuerte.
To know
more about World Visions work and how to help our fellow people affected by the
Mindanao Earthquake, please visit https://wvph.co/DonateforCotabato. You may also call World Vision at (02)
8372-7777 or (0917) 866-4824.
For more
information and updates, you may follow /worldvisionph on Facebook and
@worldvisionphl on Instagram.
