Integral Alliance has launched a Disaster Response in the Philippines with an alert being issued by one of its Members through Integral’s Disaster Response website.
The following Integral Member Agencies are responding operationally, through their own operations or partners in the field: CRWRC, Food for the Hungry, MAP International, Mission Alliance, and World Relief US. CRWRC is partnering with PHILRADS, the relief and development arm of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches which is a national member of the World Evangelical Alliance.
Integral’s Member Agencies held a teleconference on Friday 11 August 2012 to share information and consider funding and operational strategies to coordinate the responses of Members to the Philippines flooding. As five Integral Members are already responding, it was agreed that each would share their current response, along with photos and stories. Work has begun to draft a joint operational and communication strategy and a call has gone out to other Integral Members for co-funding.
Peter Howard, Food for the Hungry’s Emergency Response Director, reported on the call that about 1 month of rain had fallen in 24 hours and an estimated 500,000 families (2m people) were affected; and as of 10 August 360,000 people were in shelters or evacuation centres.
Integral Members are primarily working through churches and local partners supporting evacuation and feeding centers and providing food, household non-food item, hygiene kits, medicine, water purification tablets, clean-up kits and cleaning services.
Peter says: “Food for the Hungry is joining the efforts of other Integral Members and responding to the flooding in the Philippines. We are working through Food for the Hungry Philippines who is supporting local churches as they serve as shelters, distribution centers and sources of volunteers. The Philippines has a culture of volunteerism and churches are often leading the charge, and as we come alongside and support them with resources, they are becoming avenues of grace and generosity to their flood affected communities.”
Norwegian Mission Alliance is responding to the flooding in the Philippines by providing emergency relief to 2000 families. Hanne Holmberg Chavez, Area Director, Asia for NMA says, “We are coordinating our activities with the other Integral Members and hope that our common effort can give efficient and timely help to the poor families in Manila”.
All Integral Members sign up to the Red Cross Code of Conduct and Sphere Standards, and Integral has developed an agreed Quality Standards Statement amongst its 18 Members.
Integral Alliance is a WEA affiliate and has served as a global partner to the WEA in the field of relief and development since 2006. Integral contributes to the WEA’s goal of fostering Christian unity around the world through working with its Members on a more integrated and collaborative strategy in disasters. For more information, go to: www.integralalliance.org.
Integral Disaster Relief Process:
Integral Members have developed a collaborative strategy for responding to disasters as Integral, with the Disaster Response Process co-ordinating the emergency activities of its Members. The aim of the Integral DR process is to combine resources to ensure that as many people as possible are reached with the assistance they need.
More Info on the Philippines Crisis:
It was reported on Aug 7, 2012 (AFP) that half of Manila was under water — a city of some 15 million people. 250,000 people have fled their homes and torrential rain has paralysed the city, sweeping away houses, stranding residents on rooftops and triggering a landslide.
(See http://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/250000-flee-floods-paralyse-philippine-capital for more info.)
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