It has been 2 weeks to the day, on November 8, that superstorm Haiyan, called Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, made landfall in the central eastern islands of the Philippines, leveling the city of Tacloban (population 200,000) with 190 mph winds. To date, the death toll has reached over 5,000 with more than 4M people displaced, 1M of whom are children. Though the heartbreaking pictures of the devastation have slowed to a trickle in the news media, recovery efforts are daunting. Your support of my fellow Filipinos is needed more than ever.
Click here to learn about fundraisers to help those suffering in the Philippines
Image from Rappler.com
Below is a list of contact information for some organizations that plan to provide relief to victims of the typhoon, called Yolanda in the Philippines. The New York Times does not certify the charities’ fund allocations or administrative costs. More information about giving, for this and other causes, is available online from the GuideStar database on nonprofit agencies. The full list published in The New York Times can be found here.
International Committee of the Red Cross/Philippine Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Philippine Red Crossare both accepting donations and coordinating disaster relief on the ground throughout much of the central Philippines. The local branch of the organization is posting updates on Facebook and Twitter.
The World Food Program, which provides emergency food aid to families and children, is accepting donations online and through PayPal.
The Philippine branch of Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, says that children affected by the typhoon need urgent access to drinkable water, medical supplies, food and shelter. It is accepting donations online as part of an emergency typhoon appeal.
Catholic Relief Services has dispatched a team to the area affected by the storm, but said travel to the most hard-hit cities and towns was “extremely slow” because of damaged infrastructure and debris-clogged roads. It is accepting donations online.
The Philippine branch of Caritas, a Catholic charity, is accepting donations online and via wire transfers. It is posting updates on Twitter.
Oxfam reports that it has “three assessment teams in the field and is currently preparing 16 tons of aid for immediate shipment to the region,” and aims “to ensure access for 20,000 of the most vulnerable families to safe water, sanitation facilities, and enable people to protect themselves from public health risks.” The charity is accepting online donations.
Save the Children is accepting donations online to respond to the needs of children and families. The group said that 10 percent of each donation will be set aside to help prepare for future emergencies.
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)
The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders),explains on its website that it has emergency teams in Cebu (the Philippine city with the nearest fully operational airport to the disaster area) and expects “to have a medical team on the ground tomorrow, Tuesday, in Tacloban, a town devastated when the typhoon first struck the coast.”
