PHILIPPINES RESPONSE

Our History In The Philippines

All Hands Volunteers (All Hands) has a long history of working in the Philippines this represents our 5th project in the past 7 years. Recognizing the unfortunate reality that the Philippines is very prone to natural disasters, in 2012, we formed a Philippines registered local charity. In addition, by year end 2013, we will establish our Asia Regional Office, in Manila, to ensure we have a permanent presence and ability to quickly respond to events in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia. Our work, in the Philippines, has been: 2006 Project Santo Domingo - When Typhoon Reming struck the Philippines, we launched our first response in the Philippines. Heavy rain caused mudslides and flooding claimed the lives of over 2,000 people and left hundreds more missing. All Hands was there to provide help cleaning up, tarping roofs, planting trees, rebuilding schools and even rebuilt a small villages fishing fleet of 21 boats. 2011 Project Cagayan de Oro - we returned to the country when it was hit by Typhoon Washi locally known as Sendong. Heavy rains caused destructive flash flooding which killed over 1,200 people and left hundreds more unaccounted for. Nearly 50,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. Our response lasted over a year and ranged in scope from debris removal to the construction of 585 temporary shelters and, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Philippines, the construction of 284 permanent homes. 2013 Project Pagatpat - we continued our partnership, with Habitat for Humanity Philippines, and were able to build 88 new permanent homes, over 5 months, providing further relief for families whose lives had been shattered by Typhoon Sendong. 2013 Project Bohol - On October 15th, 2013, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the area around Bohol and had staff on the ground, within 72 hours of the earthquake, which resulted in us launching our fourth project, Project Bohol. By October 28th, once the search and rescue phases had concluded and it was deemed safe to proceed, a base had been established, volunteers arrived and we began our work to start clearing rubble and debris in addition to safeing homes which is to dismantle unsafe and damaged structures 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan Yolanda Response - On November 7th, the strongest storm ever recorded to reach landfall tore through the Philippines. Super Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) decimated part of the country and the full scope of the damage, both to life and to property, is still unknown. At least 80,000 homes destroyed or damaged. Although estimates of the number left homeless vary, the Philippine government puts it at more than 582,000. The official death toll now stands at over 3,900 with 18,175 people reported injured and 1,590 missing . Some areas and different islands have yet to even be reached by aid and government agencies. The scale of this disaster is enormous with more information to come.

YOU CAN HELP THE PHILIPPINES RESPONSE

All Hands seeks $450,000 in funding and volunteer labor to support Philippines Response (now encompassing both the Bohol Earthquake and Typhoon Yolanda response) We have had unprecedented response, receiving over 1850 volunteer applications from 25 countries around the world. In addition to our current base in Bohol, we are establishing a second volunteer base on the island of Leyte in Ormoc City. The number of people we will be able to assist largely depends to how much funding can be quickly secured. Your donation will support a volunteer working on a project in the Philippines. This covers tools, materials, 3 daily meals, housing, water, transportation, on-site support, and other miscellaneous items. We are currently forecasting that the initial response will last approximately 6 months due to the widespread extent of the devastation. We forecast that we will have anywhere from 100-150 volunteers, on the ground on a daily basis, with an average of 125 volunteers over the course of the project. As such, we will require at least $450,000 in new funding to support this response. Our projected work will include: Home Safeing Following the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in October and now the destruction from Super Typhoon Haiyan, All Hands will continue the work it began to dismantle unsafe structures such as houses, businesses, motels, schools and more. The process involves securing support rigging around destroyed concrete, roofing, support walls and trees to safely lift the damaged articles to a safe area. The goal, as was proven in our Indonesia response in 2005, is to preserve as much of the building materials as possible so the homeowners can use in future rebuilding.

Debris Removal All Hands will also embark upon the removal of debris from homes and businesses. This process involves cleaning out debris and breaking up and removing rubble so that property owners can safely begin the rebuild process. The work is labor intensive, very messy and often times too difficult for victims of a natural disaster to undertake alone due to the expense involved and because of the physical and emotional challenges it resents. It is however, a critical step in the recovery process and one of All Hands areas of expertise POTENTIAL HOUSING REBUILD (DEPENDENT UPON SECURING ADDITIONAL FUNDING): As we have seen in our project in Haiti, following the catastrophic earthquake, and after Typhoon Sedong in the Philippines, the devastation can be so great that homes and schools must be rebuilt in safe and secure areas. All Hands has demonstrated its ability to leverage the volunteer model, partnering with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity Philippines, the United Nations and Unicef, to build new, safe housing quickly and efficiently by harnessing the power of our volunteers. In Haiti, All Hands built 20 schools and in the Philippines, we have built over 330 permanent homes, for families to move forward on the path of recovery. With additional support, we can exponentially increase our assistance, and help families in need.

We Need Your Support

Support Our Philippines Response

http://hands.org/donate/