Tag Archives: Typhoon Bopha

New World Ark Magazine Out Now

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For the people of Sayon in the southern Philippines, a typhoon was a new and terrible experience. So when Typhoon Bopha ripped through their small village in December, most were unprepared. Many people there lost their homes and livelihoods, which for Heifer project participants, that meant seeing livestock and crops wash away. In the May edition of World Ark, which is in mailboxes this week, you can read about Heifer’s work in the aftermath of the typhoon, and how we are implementing Disaster Risk Reduction training so that people can take steps to mitigate the effects of future natural disasters.Cover

Or you can read about what it’s like to scale Mount Kilimanjaro, which is exactly what writer Kelly MacNeil did as part of a team with employees from Heifer partner Elanco Animal Health. The team collectively raised more than $8,000 for Heifer with the climb.

And while you’re reading, check out the interview with former first lady Laura Bush. She is chair of a program at the Bush Institute that empowers Egyptian women at a critical time for democracy and women’s rights in their country.

We also have stories from a Heifer literacy project in Cambodia, and a fascinating look at what affect climate change is having on the pastoralists in the Sahel region of Africa.

As always there are gorgeous photos and intriguing infographics to peruse as well. The page-turner edition is a great way to view the magazine, but don’t forget to check out World Ark’s app on the iPad and Android tablets, too.

Happy reading!

Ester: A Mother in the Philippines

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In December 2012, Typhoon Bopha devastated the Philippines. Families lost their neighbors, homes and livelihoods. Ester, a mother and Heifer Philippines project participant, isn’t sure she will be able to realize her dream of providing a better life for her children than what she had.

Annie Bergman, senior writer for World Ark magazine, shares her story.

This Mother's Day. Gift Different. Give Heifer. Photo courtesy of Heifer International

This Mother’s Day. Gift Different. Give Heifer. Photo courtesy of Heifer International

This Mother’s Day. Gift Different. Give Heifer.

Pigs Indispensable in Typhoon Bopha Recovery

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When Typhoon Bopha hit the Philippines, many Heifer Philippines project participants devoted special attention to the animals’ well-being over their own, knowing pigs are a rewarding investment. Project participants also shared the aid they received from Heifer with their neighbors, exhibiting the Sharing and Caring Cornerstone. Annie Bergman, senior World Ark writer, shares how pigs have helped participants recover more quickly after Typhoon Bopha.

Rocky Carag, 6, with one of the family pigs. Photo by Russell Powell.

Rocky Carag, 6, with one of his family’s pigs. Photo by Russell Powell.

Learn how you can help families worldwide.

Typhoon Bopha’s Aftermath

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The last time I posted here I was on my way to the Philippines to interview project participants who had lived through Typhoon Bopha. I told you that I’d be posting about my experiences. But we had no Internet, much less reliable electricity. Since I’ve been back I’ve thought a lot about my trip. It was one of the hardest trips I’ve taken. Below is a short reflection piece on my time there.

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I’ve seen real poverty before; heard the most heart-wrenching stories from war widows in Kosovo and survivors of the Khmer Rouge. I’ve witnessed the excitement that a gift of a goat brings and the incredible act of Passing on the Gift. But what I saw and heard in the Philippines was a level of devastation I’ve never encountered.

I was in Mindanao just six weeks after Typhoon Bopha tore through the island. As we made our way to the project sites it was as if we were inching our way closer and closer to a war zone. Palm fronds, bent permanently in the direction the winds were blowing, gave way to decimated villages.

Not only are the physical scars obvious—homes in pieces, partially rebuilt or gone completely; people living under tarps; men cutting away rotten portions of wood in an effort to save any materials from damaged houses; layers of silt and mud deposited in rice and corn fields; crops dead where they were planted, trees down—there are now psychological and emotional scars.

 

Ester Talledo talks about life after Typhoon Bopha.
Ester Talledo talks about life after Typhoon Bopha.

 

 I spoke to parents who say their children are afraid of the slightest winds, with mothers who have nothing to feed their families, and with fathers who are out of work because of factory closings or farm damage.

The typhoon ripped away hopes along with homes and livelihoods. All the Heifer beneficiaries here wanted was to provide their children with a life better than the one they had known. But with no food, no income and no job opportunities, it’s only a matter of time before kids will have to drop out of school.

What I learned in my 10 days there was the meaning of urgency. Typhoon Bopha was a minor blip on the Western world’s radar. But these people need help and they need it now. They have no food and won’t until the rice is harvested in the next few weeks.

In my five years with Heifer I’ve learned that each trip to the field leaves an indelible mark, and that each also comes with its own perils of the heart. I’ve been home from the Philippines for three weeks now, and though the images of crippled palms and makeshift homes are as clear as the day I was there, it’s the words of Ester Talledo that will remain with me forever: “While we’re alive there’s still hope. We will stay strong.”

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Heifer’s Disaster Rehabilitation Fund is reserved for to help Heifer participants who are victimes of events like Typhoon Bopha. Please give if you can. 

Heifer Philippines Continues Rehabilitation Efforts

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Rehabilitation work is underway in the Philippines to help Heifer International project participants begin the long recovery from Typhoon Bopha, which struck the southern island of Mindanao on December 4, 2012.

Philippines recovery.

Elmer Negros and his son, building a makeshift cabin in the place where their house used to stand. His wife watches while washing all the clothes that got soaked during the Typhoon Bopha. Their house was totally destroyed by the typhoon. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

Philippines country staff has asked Heifer International for $50,000 in immediate disaster rehabilitation funding to help provide short-term food relief and materials to repair homes and a feed mill, such as tin for the roofs and raw feed ingredients for surviving animals.

Philippines emergency aid.

At the headquarter of HEED, Heifer's local partner in Santa Josefa. Staff and volunteers preparing bags of rice for distribution to the families that have nothing to eat as a consequence of the Typhoon Bopha. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

On Saturday, representatives of the federation of self-help groups (SHGs), organized by Heifer Philippines country staff, met with HEED, the local partner, to discuss and schedule procuring and distributing supplies to help families who were affected. For Heifer, 366 families in two projects in Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur, were significantly affected, with homes damaged or destroyed. More than 250 pigs were lost, as well as 90 goats. Rice, corn and banana crops were significantly damaged.

A banana plantation, destroyed by Typhoon Bopha.

A banana plantation, destroyed by Typhoon Bopha. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

The groups also met with representatives of Save the Children and World Vision to help coordinate rehabilitation efforts and food supplies. Heifer regional staff plans to meet December 21 in Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur, with the SHGs and HEED to discuss longer term rehabilitation planning.

Florita M. San Miguel, a Heifer participant, with her pig and recently born piglets. They were born right after Typhoon Bopha hit Santa Josefa. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

Between today and December 23, Hercules Paradiang, Heifer Philippines country director, and his team, will work with the SHGs and HEED to secure, repack and distribute food and roofing materials for repairs. Then, between December 21 and 24, members with carpentry skills and others will be divided into groups to help repair and rebuild homes that were damaged, as well as distribute and help prepare food as needed.

Ariel Alcantara, a neighbour of Santa Josefa, in front of what remains of his house. It was almost destroyed by Typhoon Bopha. Photo by Nacho Hernandez, courtesy of Heifer International.

Between December 26-29, crews plan to reconstruct the feed mill warehouse, and then on December 30-January 2, 2013, to purchase raw materials to put the feed mill back in operation by January 2, 2013. Between January 8 and 10, 2013, Heifer Philippines staff, along with the self-help groups and local government units, will provide Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) workshops to five Heifer project communities.

The workshops, which help families prepare for and endure emergencies and disasters, had been planned for December 4-7, but was canceled because of Typhoon Bopha’s assault on the island.

Heifer International plans to send a World Ark writer and photographer to the Philippines in late January to visit the impacted area and report on the families, as well as ongoing CMDRR efforts across the country to better prepare families for disasters such as Bopha, lessons that can be shared with other Heifer International communities in high-risk areas around the world.

Heifer Philippines Staff Assess Typhoon Bopha Damage

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Heifer International sent a photographer to the Philippines over the weekend to document damage from and record existing state images in the wake of Typhoon Bopha, which struck the southern island of Mindanao last week with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains. The photographer will return to the area in late January, along with a World Ark writer to record the situation and report on long-term agriculture rehabilitation plans.

Update 12/12/12: The following photographs are preliminary photographs; images from the professional photographer will be shared as they are made available.

Heifer Philippines

Meanwhile, Heifer International country staff in the Philippines continues to assess damage in the south from last week’s typhoon strike, and to help prepare for the rehabilitation efforts that will be needed to help project families get back on their feet.

Hercules Paradiang, Heifer Philippines country director, and his team are also working and talking with other nonprofits that are experienced in disaster response, as well as a federation of eight Heifer-organized self-help groups that have been supporting relief efforts since last week and will play an important part in on-the-ground rehabilitation work.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development has also assumed direction of NGO efforts and is discussing longer-term rehabilitation partnerships.

Officials said 647 are confirmed dead, with another 780 missing. Total affected population is 487,364 families, or 5,412,140 people in 30 provinces in eight regions. Estimates of overall damage are as high as $173 million.

Specific to Heifer, at least 366 families in two projects in Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur, were significantly affected, with homes damaged or destroyed. More than 250 pigs were lost, as well as 90 goats. Rice, corn and banana crops were significantly damaged, and initial estimates from Heifer communities place damages at $550,000.

Heifer Philippines country staff is asking Heifer International for immediate $50,000 disaster rehabilitation funding to help provide short-term food relief and materials to repair homes and a feed mill, such as tin for the roofs and raw feed ingredients for surviving animals.

Update from Heifer Philippines Staff

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Initial Philippines’ post-Bopha assessment shows loss of animals, crops

Heifer Philippines country staff continues to assess damage from Typhoon Bopha, but project officers and partners in the Sta. Jose community in South Philippines are reporting a number of homes damaged or destroyed, drowned livestock and lost crops.

Philippines Typhoon Bopha

Photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video, used under Creative Commons license.

According to Hercules Paradiang, Heifer Philippines country director, 366 families in two projects in Sta. Josefa, Agusan del Sur, were significantly affected, with every family’s home either damaged or destroyed. More than 250 pigs were lost, as well as 90 goats. A building owned by a community group, comprising a feedmill and raw materials for feeds, which were just purchased, was also damaged.

Staff is reporting significant damage to rice, corn and banana crops in the fields as well. The reports, which are still sketchy and unverified, are trickling in due to continued difficulty reaching and communicating with families and staff in the field. Initial estimates of damage to Heifer’s projects overall is $550,000.

The official death toll from Typhoon Bopha, which roared ashore early Tuesday with 160 mile an hour winds, the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, stands at 418 with 383 missing and hundreds injured, according to the Philippines national disaster agency.

The storm has weakened and is moving slowly north-northwest toward the South China Sea, with central winds of up to 68 mph and gusts of up to 87 mph.

Aid continues to pour in from pre-positioned government stores, and international aid organizations are responding to the immediate, short-term needs. Heifer staff in the Philippines and at the headquarters office in Little Rock is collecting updates and information to prepare for the rehabilitation work that will begin soon.

In that, Heifer Philippines country staff will work with project families to repair and replace homes, replace lost livestock, repair animal pens and replace and replant crops.

“Right now, our role is to give the government and first-responders the room to do their work, to help the families who need them so badly,” said Mahendra Lohani, vice president of Heifer International’s Asia/South Pacific area. “Then, when some order is restored, we will work with families and partners to rebuild their farms and shore up and restore agricultural production.

“Only that will provide them the resources and assets, such as income, food and goods for sale, that will start the real long-term recovery that is so important to a sustainable life.”

Updates will continue to be provided as events warrant.

Heifer Philippines Update

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Heifer Central Philippines Projects Unharmed; Impact on South Being Reviewed

Heifer Philippines country staff report that project communities in the Central Philippines, which received high winds and heavy rains from Typhoon Bopha, suffered no damage, injuries or other adverse impact from the storm, so efforts are being directed at understanding the impact in the South in the Caraga region—Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte.

Typhoon BophaPhilippines

Photo Credit NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Assessments are expected to take several days as staff is being dissuaded from moving too quickly into affected areas as it may create expectations of immediate relief, a service Heifer is not positioned to provide.

“In an emergency like this, the urgent need by affected communities is to get immediate help like food, clothing, water, etc., within the next 24-48 hours,” said Hercules Paradiang, Heifer Philippines country director. “These needs are being met for now by the government and emergency response agencies, so it is not yet the appropriate time to go visit individual families to ask questions related to rebuilding or rehabilitation at this point.

“We will respect the request to delay, but will collect other information about livestock, agricultural impact, infrastructure, etc., from the province or municipality National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and provide it back to headquarters.”

Paradiang has been able to determine that 439 homes were damaged in Heifer project communities, of which 422 were partially damaged and 17 destroyed.

Across the Southern Philippines, rescue teams continue to try to reach isolated communities Wednesday in the wake of Typhoon Bopha, which struck the southernmost island of Mindanao on Tuesday. The death toll is estimated at 270, with reports that 170,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

The storm, dubbed “Pablo” in the Philippines, made landfall early Tuesday (the Philippines is 14 hours ahead of Central Standard Time in the United States) with sustained winds greater than 160 mph—the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.

Rescue teams are reporting seas of mud, upended trees, toppled electrical poles and flattened buildings or lost roofs in their search and rescue efforts. Wide areas of the island are without electricity for the second day, including one of Heifer’s primary regions, the Caraga, and the government continues to use trucks and boats to bring supplies of food, blankets, medicines and cadaver bags to stricken areas.

The Philippines weather bureau said that Bopha, which means “blossom” in Khmer, is expected to exit Philippine territory by late Thursday.

Provincial officials in Mindanao are estimating the economic damage to infrastructure and agriculture could run into billions of pesos (tens of millions of dollars), with several bridges cut, roads washed out, power lines severed, and banana, coconut, vegetable and rubber plantations ruined.

Updates will be provided as events warrant.

Heifer Philippines’ Staff OK, but Homes Damaged, Animals Lost in Typhoon

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Typhoon Bopha

Photo Credit NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Heifer International Philippines country staff are all reported to be okay after Typhoon Bopha, with top sustained winds of 130 miles per hour, slammed into the Southern Philippines early Tuesday, setting off landslides, uprooting trees and destroying fragile homes in its path.

Hercules Paradiang, Heifer Philippines country director, said that while staff are safe, with one staff member’s parents’ home under water, damage is being reported among project families, including loss of homes, livestock, animal pens and fodder. There is no word on injuries or conditions of families at this time due to limited communications and impassable roadways.

“We are very pleased to hear that Heifer staff members are safe,” said Steve Denne, Heifer’s chief operating officer. “We are working to learn more about the situation there and the impact upon Heifer project partner families, so that we may, as quickly as possible, support long-term agricultural recovery.”

According to Paradiang, a Farmer’s Field School for swine was destroyed in one project community, and 250 homes were damaged, with 75 of them destroyed in another project area, along with damage to animal pens and lost feed and fodder. There has been a definite impact on animals, but an assessment will be needed for a better understanding.

Immediate needs of those affected by the storm are being met in the short term by the government, which pre-positioned goods and services, and by immediate-response agencies suited for the kind of work needed in the aftermath of a storm such as this.

The United Nations also plans to begin an official damage assessment in the country Wednesday, and Heifer staff in Little Rock continues to reach out to colleagues in the Philippines for updates and information about project families and their possessions.

What is known, from news reports, short-wave broadcasts and other official sources is that the nearly 400-mile wide storm has killed a number of people (unconfirmed reports range from 43 to as high as 80), according to the Philippines News Agency, the country’s official news outlet.

The death toll is expected to rise once soldiers and police gain access to some far-flung villages isolated by floods, fallen trees and downed communications, but more than 57,000 people have been directly impacted as the storm demolished houses and stranded people in two Mindanao regions and parts of the Visaya islands.

A Philippines governor says at least 33 villagers and soldiers drowned when torrents of water from the powerful typhoon rushed down a mountain, engulfing the victims. Gov. Arturo Uy said the victims included villagers who had fled from their homes to a village hall, which was swamped by the flash flood. An army truck carrying soldiers and villagers also was washed away.

By mid-afternoon Tuesday (the Philippines is 14 hours ahead of Central Standard Time in the United States), a weaker Bopha headed for the Sulu Sea in the late afternoon, the Philippines weather service said.  But it continued to soak a wide area with heavy rain, raising the risk of mudslides and flash floods.

The storm, dubbed “Pablo” in the Philippines, had blown up into a super typhoon at one point Monday as it moved over the ocean, with sustained winds greater than 160 mph—the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean—but it weakened before making landfall over the city of Baganga.

Officials in the Philippines report that early warning of the storm allowed people to prepare. Tens of thousands of people sought safety in evacuation centers and government shelters.

Because so many Heifer International project communities are in areas sensitive to climatic events—hurricanes, fires, floods, mudslides, etc.—country programs develop Community-Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) plans to help prepare for and to mitigate events just such as this.

In the Philippines, identified as Heifer’s No. 1 country of concern for natural disasters due to typhoons and tropical storms, staff have instructed families how to prepare for events such as Typhoon Bopha, teaching them how to secure livestock and feed, to harvest ready crops for food for the family and to secure water and firewood. They’ve also been instructed to safeguard important papers, education material and cash and where to go for safety and shelter.

Heifer program officials plan to conduct an evaluation of the planning in the Philippines following Typhoon Bopha and to use the learnings to strengthen and improve the program so that all country offices and projects benefit from the disaster preparedness trainings.

Updates will continue to be provided as they become available.