Source/Author: Mr. John Ling

Typhoon Haiyan Disaster in the Philippines

Typhoon Haiyan, known as Typhoon Yolanda in Philippines, was an exceptionally powerful tropical cyclone that devastated some parts of Philippines on 8th November 2013. It was the deadliest typhoon on record killing at least 6,000 people and 1,800 others still missing in Philippines alone and millions of people affected. The Typhoon swept away more than 1.1 million houses. Haiyan was also the strongest storm recorded at landfall, and unofficially the strongest typhoon ever recorded in term of wind speed. The typhoon caused catastrophic destruction in the Visayas, particularly on the Island of Leyte and Samar.

Bishop Rev Dr. Ong Hwai Teik quickly sent out a circular asking all Methodist Churches in Malaysia to respond. While relief funds were coming in, Bishop Ong activated the authorization of a grant of RM30, 000 to the Barnabas Fund and a further sum of RM20,000 to CREST to meet immediate relief needs in the affected localities. He further proposed that the Council of Missions send a small team to the Philippines as soon as possible to take a look at the situation, and to meet up with the episcopal leadership of the Methodist Church there to discuss on what and how we can help.

I communicated with Bishop Rodolfo Juan and Bishop Ciriaco Francisco of the United Methodist Church (UMC) and also Bishop Nathanael Lazaro of Evangelical Methodist Church. It was learnt that UMC has 6 churches in Leyte Province affected by the typhoon. Arrangement was then made for a trip to visit Leyte Province from 11th to 13th December. Col (rtd) Leong Pook Seong and I went on the trip with the two UMC Bishops of the Philippines.

We flew from Manila to Tacloban, which is the capital of Leyte Province with a population of over 220,000. It is situated at the northwest corner of Leyte Island. The other major city of the Island is Ormac. The whole island has a population of over 2 million people.

We could see the destruction the moment we landed at the airport. The airport terminal building was badly damaged, but temporarily put together to allow air communication with the rest of the country. Immediately outside the terminal building, we could see tents and emergency shelters being put up everywhere. We felt stunned by the enormous devastation at first sight. From the airport and driving south, we could see miles and miles of complete destruction and vast landscape of wrecked village upon village. It is devastation on a scale unlike anything that I have ever seen, and worse than a war zone.

The destruction was most severe near to Tacloban City where everything was destroyed except for the city centre. As we moved further south, the situation got slightly better. At Tacloban, it was reported that the water was more than twenty feet high and the wind and wave lasted for as long as 4 hours.

It was already into the fifth week when we arrived. Most of the Island was still without electricity then. It was total darkness at night, except for those who had generators.

The Bishops and the local church leaders took us to visit the following Methodist Churches:

a. Light and Life United Methodist Church in Tacloban
b. Abuyong United Methodist Church at Abuyong
c. Holy Mountain United Methodist Church at Kadauhan, Valencia, Ormac City
d. Galilean United Methodist Church in Guadalupe, Bay-bay City
e. Lomonon United Methodist Church in Lomonon, Palompon
f.  Isabel United Methodist Church at Isabel
g. Christ United Methodist Church in Inday Dora, Kanangan

We brought along US$10,000 cash with us for immediate aid purposes, and after discussing with the Bishops and the local church leaders, the following allocations were made:

a. The roof of the Light and Life United Methodist Church in Tacloban needed immediate repair so that Sunday service can be conducted safely. It was estimated that the roof covering plus replacing some roof trusses and some minor repairs to the walls and toilet would cost about USD$500

b. There are 5 families of the Light and Life United Methodist Church in Tacloban whose roofs were also badly damaged. Each family was given a token sum of US$500 for these repairs.

c. The Holy Mountain United Methodist Church at Kadaudan, Valancia lost its roof although the roof trusses were still alright. The new roof would cost about US$2,000

d. The roof of Isabel United Methodist Church and side wing for the parsonage were partially damaged. A sum of US$2,000 was given for their immediate repair.

The Light and Life United Methodist Church at Tacloban is a house church. UMC is already negotiating to buy a piece of land nearer to Tacloban City centre to build a new church for them. We shall wait for this plan to come and hopefully we can help in their new church building project.

For the Isabel United Methodist Church at Isabel, the church is growing. At the moment, the land is too small to allow for any extension. UMC is now thinking of buying up the adjoining lot of land to allow new church premises to be built and convert the present church building into a Kindergarten or other community service centre. It is a growing church and we can take part in this project when it is ready.

For the Abuyong UMC and the Christ UMC at Kanangan we shall wait for further news from the Bishops and shall make a decision at the appropriate time.

Our observation is that the people in these affected areas are at a loss as to what to do next. Their trauma is still very much with them. The rehabilitation and the rebuilding process will surely take a long time. The immediate food and shelter requirements are temporarily provided for by a lot of NGOs working there now. But the question is how much longer will these NGOs be there?

Following our consultation with them, the UMC leadership immediately used some of the relief fund that they had received then from Methodist Churches worldwide to do the following:

a. To buy generator sets and give them to the local churches so that the church can use them to provide electricity at night to those houses near and around the churches. Even one lighting point to each house was most welcome after weeks in complete darkness, or being confined only to using candles or torchlight.

b. To buy water filters so that local churches can provide clean drinking water to those near and around the churches and in the community.

c. To provide financial loans to church members to start working again, especially those with skills like welders, so that they can be on their feet soon. A strategy was devised that encompasses repayment of loans, tithing to local churches and providing employment opportunity to other church members or even to the public at large.

The GC Council of Missions had decided at its meeting on 15th January to continue to connect and communicate with the Methodist Church in the Philippines on how we can continue to help them in the next stage of recovery and rehabilitation phase post the Typhoon Haiyan disaster. The remainder of our collected funds will be channeled towards this next level of restoration and rebuilding.

Let us continue to remember the people there in our prayers. The Bishop and the General Conference thank all our Annual Conferences, churches, members and friends for their willing and generous contributions.

John Ling,
Chairman of Council of Mission
The Methodist Church in Malaysia