Typhoon Haiyan, the Category 5 mega-storm that pounded the eastern Philippines on November 8, has left at least 10,000 people dead and many more injured while destroying critical water, electricity and transportation infrastructure. Towns and villages are leveled in an already impoverished region. There’s little water to drink or food to eat. According to all accounts, the need for outside assistance is urgent.
Here’s an incomplete list of groups on the ground working to immediately aid the victims. Please use the comments field to let me know what other relief groups deserve support.
If you’re looking or have information on a missing person, Google Person Finder has launched a Typhoon Yolanda page. A Google crisis map is also available for evacuation and relief information.
Oxfam’s work combines immediate, practical assistance post-disasters with an intelligent, tough-minded approach to the longer-term needs for development, justice and sustainability. Oxfam aid teams are on the ground in the Philippines and reporting urgent needs of food, clean water, medicine and shelter. Communication lines between some provinces are cut and many areas are experiencing total black outs. Oxfam teams are assessing the extent of the damage now and are ready to deploy water and sanitation materials to those affected but urgently need help to scale up.
The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) has created a disaster relief fund for victims in the Philippines.
The American Jewish World Service, which has worked extensively in the Philippines, is collecting funds to provide urgent aid to local groups in the country that know their communities and what they need to help survivors.
Shelterbox is providing tents, kitchen equipment, blankets, water purification systems and classroom supplies to refugee families in the Philippines. You can help with an online donation or by using one of these methods.
The UN’s World Food Program has allocated an immediate $2 million for Haiyan relief, with a greater appeal pending. The organization is also sending 40 metric tons of fortified biscuits in the immediate aftermath, as well as working with the government to restore emergency telecommunications. Americans can text the word AID to 27722 to donate $10 or give online. Learn more here.
World Vision has a long history of relief and anti-poverty work in the Philippines and is mobilizing nearly 500 staff around the country to respond to the disaster. Donations are accepted online and the organization also lets you sponsor a child in the Philippines.
