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PHILIPPINE TYPHOON DISASTER APPEAL

Philippine government official list of casualties for typhoon Haiyan /Yolanda - deceased, injured and missing.

Website of the Philippine Embassy, London


Over the past four months FilCom Oxford been shipping goods back to the Philippines.  Rather than trying to duplicate the efforts and scale of the major aid-agencies, we took a different approach.  We have focused our help on those individuals and communities in need who are known to the 1500 or so members of FilCom Oxford itself.  Typically, these might be family-members, friends, neighbours or home communities that our members (who come from all parts of the Philippines) left-behind when they came to the UK.  This kind of help is very specific, we have far more idea of what happens to the donations and are better able to ensure that they really do go to people in need.

Many of our members and other well-wishers helped with sorting and packaging goods at our storage facility near Didcot in Oxfordshire.  About 150 boxes of aid have been shipped, many by FilCom Oxford members back to their communities at their own expense.  In addition to this, FilCom Oxford has shipped consignments itself for subsequent distribution once arrived in the Philippines.  This shipping and distribution will be coordinated by officers of the Community through family and friends and other trusted helpers.

Our aim is to feedback as much information as possible about what happens to donations.

PLEASE NOTE - We can no longer accept donations of goods as we no longer have any storage facilties

DONATIONS OF MONEY ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!

If you would like to make a donation , however small, it will be much appreciated.
Please contact any FilCom Oxford officer or contact Ariel Lanada at the following email address:

chairman@filcomoxford.org.uk

If you would prefer to give directly to the UK Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), you can also do this through FilCom Oxford by visiting our page at JustGiving:
www.justgiving.com/FilComOxford

BBC TV South Today Oxford - feature on the disaster 12-11-2013

FilCom Oxford's Chairman, Ariel Lanada, talking with BBC Radio Oxford's Ali Jones
Saturday 7 December 2013


Goods Make it to Roxas on Panay Island

One of the first shipments of goods from FilCom Oxford recently made it to the city of Roxas in Capiz Province on Panay Island in the Western Visayas.  The goods were shipped through the kindness and generosity of Juday and Glenn Divino.  Roxas suffered considerable damage during typhoon Haiyan as you can see in this YouTube video .
25 February 2014

Roxas Aid     Roxas Aid

Roxas Aid     Roxas Aid


Relief Aid Distributed at Bgy Luag, Duenas, Iloilo

Goods sent by FilCom Oxford as part of the relief effort for Typhoon Haiyan were distributed to the people of Barangay Luag, Duenas, Iloilo Province during a Christmas party held on 27 December 2013.  Also distributed were school supplies bought with monetary donations from staff at the Adult Intensive Care Unit at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust in the UK.  The party was held in the baragay's new church which is in the course of being built.
25 February 2014

Barangay Luag Duenas Iloilo Yolanda Relief     Barangay Luag Duenas Iloilo Yolanda Relief

Barangay Luag Duenas Iloilo Yolanda Relief     Barangay Luag Duenas Iloilo Yolanda Relief

Barangay Luag Duenas Iloilo Yolanda Relief     Barangay Luag Duenas Iloilo Yolanda Relief


Sorting and Packing Continues!

As at 22nd December 2013, around 60 boxes of goods have been sorted and packed ready for shipping (see pictures below). This is in addition to the 35 or so boxes already shipped.  There is still a lot more to do and we are having a major sorting and packing day at our Steventon storage facility on Saturday 4 January 2014.  Please help us if you can.  More details can be obtained from Noel Clarete or Geraldine Yebra.

The most cost-effective method for shipping in bulk to the Philippines is being investigated and we hope to be able to report further shipments on their way very soon.

Steventon     Steventon

Steventon     Steventon


Generous donation by John Radcliffe Hospital Theatre staff


My deepest and sincere thanks to all the staff of JR2 Theatres, especially to Debbie Conception and all those who donated food and drinks and those who made generous donations during the lunch fundraising event on 27 November.

FilCom Oxford acknowledges with gratitude your cash donation of £501.50. This money will be used to pay for the shipment of donated goods to the victims of typhoon Haiyan. Filcom Oxford ensures all donations go to those who need them most. We will send you pictures of the distribution of these goods in the Philippines. Once again thank you very much on behalf of the Filipino Community of Oxfordshire.

Ariel Lanada
30 November 2013


First shipments of aid-goods


The first major shipment of aid-goods from FilCom Oxford's storage facility near Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK, is due to leave on Tuesday 26 November 2013.  25 shipping boxes will be collected by Phil Express Ltd for shipping to the Philippines on the 6th December 2013.

A small initial consignment of FilCom Oxford donations was flown out of RAF Brize Norton on 20th November 2013 destined for the Philippine Red Cross.

Meanwhile, a further truckload of donations from the Banbury area was received on 25th November.

A personal perspective on the disaster by Ariel Lanada

Like all my countrymen living outside the Philippines, I listened to the news about typhoon Haiynan with great sadness and also with great worry about the state of my family, friends, community and whole nation.

Understandably there has been a lot of focus on Samar and Leyte where the worst damage has occurred.  But there are many parts of the Philippines which, though not suffering so badly, have nevertheless had to face death, injury and widespread damage.

I am from the island of Panay and I have a modern, strongly constructed house in the city of Iloilo towards the south of the island. Most of my close family live there.  Mercifully, the typhoon did not cause too many problems.  Thankfully no deaths, trees uprooted, relatively minor damage and so on.

But of course not everywhere has been so lucky.  I was born and brought-up in a village about 40km further north, and where we still have our farm. Barangay Lu-ag (a barangay is roughly equivalent to a British village) is one of the 47 barangays that make up the Municipality of Duenas. Lu-ag has a land area of 0.97 square kilometres and a population of around 434 (2010 census). The principal economic activity is agriculture and mo
st of the citizens of Lu-ag are subsistence farmers and/or labourers, working on the land or at any casual work that they are able to find.

As a result of the typhoon 63 of the 112 homes in Lu-ag were very badly damaged - you can see them in the pictures below.  In the wider municipality there were at least six deaths, flooding, widespread destruction with hundreds of people seeking shelter in evacuation centres. 

Further north, things are worse still.  The parents-in-law of my eldest nephew live in Concepcion on the north-east tip of Panay.  This is where Haiyan made landfall on the island, their concrete house was destroyed and they lost everything including all their money (many people in the Philippines just use cash and do not have bank accounts). 

I count myself lucky, there are many, many others with far more distressing stories to tell.  The nature of this super-typhoon and the havoc it has wreaked means that few people in or from the Philippines will be unaffected.

The Philippines will continue to need help for quite some time to come and full recovery will take years.  If you are able, please consider making a donation of money, however small.

With my grateful thanks for the truly touching and overwhelming support given already.

Ariel Lanada
Chairman, Filipino Community of Oxfordshire
23 November 2013

Update 25 November 2013: Aid is already making its way to Lu-ag with the delivery of 150 corrugated sheets.  The delivery, organised by Ariel, is the first step towards helping villagers reconstruct their homes.  The sheets were handed over at the barangay's church which is currently under construction.

Luag  Luag

Luag  Luag

Some of the damage caused by typhoon Haiyan in Barangay Lu-ag:

Luag Yolanda  Luag Yolanda

Luag Yolanda  Luag Yolanda

Luag Yolanda  Luag Yolanda

Luag Yolanda  Luag Yolanda

Luag Yolanda  Luag Yolanda


Support from the Nepalese Community of Oxfordshire

Ariel Lanada was deeply moved to receive a generous donation from the Nepalese Community of Oxfordshire last Monday evening 18th November.  The gift of £474 (and there is a bit more to come) was received personally by Ariel who was able to discuss with members of the NCO the situation in the Philippines and how the funds ought to be used.

Nepalese Community Letter

OXFAM Collecting for Philippines in Oxford - Saturday 23 November 2013


Oxford Street Collection for Philippines - Saturday 23rd November, 10am-4pm, City centre, Summertown and Cowley

We are holding a street collection on the above date to raise money for Oxfam's Philippines appeal.
If you are able to spare a few hours to shake a bucket, please email our volunteer emergency fundraising coordinator, Claire Conway, on
emergencyfundraisingoxford@gmail.com
letting her know your preferred time and location.

OXFAM

Massive Donation by Northamptonshire Group


In a huge generous gesture, 20 pallets of aid goods have been donated to FilCom Oxford by a group which sprung-up almost overnight in Northamptonshire - moved to help by the reports of the suffering in the Philippines.

The goods were collected in the Northampton / Towcester area and delivered to Bell Plantation Garden Centre in Towcester on 20th November.  They were then transported in an articulated truck, use of which was also a donation from E.M. Rogers European Transport, down to a storage location near Didcot.  A further truckload full of boxes of donations was delivered on 21st November.

The group organised by Alexia Simon and Marie Wilson, and assisted by a host of helpers, has worked tirelessly since the news of Haiyan broke and has amassed donations ranging from clothes through to food and tents.

The group also arranged a storage facility which has been lent to FilCom Oxford free-of-charge by MEPC.

Towster  Towcester
Towcester  Towcester
Steventon   Steventon  Steventon
Steventon  Steventon
Steventon

More photos ...


Our heartfelt thanks to: Alexia and Marie, Bell Plantation Garden Centre, E.M. Rogers European Transport, MEPC Milton Park Ltd and all those who so generously gave their time helping and all those who made donations.

Mass for Philippines at Oxford Oratory 21 November at 6pm:

Dear Ariel, 

The Fathers are deeply shocked and grieved by the terrible Typhoon in the Philippines and extend their love and prayers to all who may have been affected by it. 

We are to have a second collection for the relief effort this weekend, and also to offer the 6pm Mass next Thursday (21st November) - the feast of the Presentation of Our Lady - for all those killed, bereaved or affected by this tragedy. I attach a poster if you would like to advertise this event. 

Yours in the Lord, 
Fr Daniel

Fr Daniel Seward
Provost
The Oratory, 25 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HA

www.oxfordoratory.org.uk

Generous pledge from Unison Oxfordshire Health:

Hi Ariel,
 
Everyone in the Oxfordshire UNISON Health Branch has been horrified by events in the Philippines and we would like to donate £1,000 to the FilCom Oxford Typhoon Appeal. We want to show that trade unions are keen to support Filipinos both here and in Oxford. We have numerous Filipino members,  including Amy Montinola, who is our Recruitment Officer.
 
Our main concern is the dreadful suffering and misery of so many of your fellow countrymen. You have the sympathies and thoughts of everyone at the UNISON Health Branch.
 
Regards,
Chris.
 
Chris Davis
Branch International Officer
UNISON Health Branch, Oxfordshire.
14 November 2013


Fund-raising dinner at Oriel College, Saturday 23 November 2013:

Dear Mr Lanada,

I am Filipino and also the President of the Oxford Philippines Society.

As you will be very much aware, the Philippines has recently been devastated by the strongest typhoon ever recorded, with thousands of people feared dead. Whole communities have been flattened with hundreds of thousands displaced. 10 million people are affected and half of them are children.
 
I have organised a formal dinner at Oriel College, University of Oxford on the 23rd of November, Saturday 7-9pm  to raise funds for the victims of the typhoon. Proceeds of the event will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee. More details about the event can be found on www.justgiving.com/oxfordphilippinestyphoon

The cost of the dinner is £30, an amount which is heavily subsidised by my college.
 
I hope that your organisation can support this event. Please contact me on 07979 143568 for further details. 
 
Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Oleri Galope
 
Final Year Undergraduate, BA Jurisprudence.Oriel College, University of Oxford
13 November 2013

A message from Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP:


Dear Jose Ariel,
 
I just wanted to express my deepest condolences at your loss and that of the whole Philippine community.  It is terrible to see the loss and suffering.  I had been thinking of you, and then I saw your moving interview on the television.
 
I have made a donation to the relief appeal, and will of course keep a close eye on the progress of the relief effort, and the UK’s assistance.  If there is anything I can do to help you or any members of the community, please do let me know.
 
With very best wishes,
 
Andrew
 
Andrew Smith MP
13 November 2013

A message from Sir Jonathan Michael, Chief Executive,
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust:


Dear Colleagues ‬

‪‬I am sure many of us have watched, with growing concern, the distressing reports from the Philippines last weekend following the impact of typhoon Haiyan.‬ ‪

Our thoughts are particularly with our colleagues in the Trust who have family and friends in the Philippines. I am sure you will all join me in saying that our thoughts go out to them, as well as to all those directly affected by this terrible disaster in the Philippines themselves.‬

Many people have been asking how they can help. For more information on how you can help, particularly how you can donate, please see the Disasters Emergency Committee website http://www.dec.org.uk/. This is the national appeal that is co-ordinating all aid on behalf of the UK. You can either donate to the individual charities working together in the Philippines through this website or the Emergency Committee who will allocate funding appropriately.‬

Jonathan

Sir Jonathan Michael FRCP
Chief Executive
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
Trust Headquarters
John Radcliffe Hospital
Oxford OX3 9DU

13 November 2013


 

© 2014 Filipino Community of Oxfordshire