Things can always be done

Publish date: 30 April, 2014
‘Things
Carpenter Renato Lebertas
helps replace a
roof using materials from a
shelter repair
kit delivered by
Habitat for Humanity Philippines. Seventyeight fishing
families in the
village of Daan
Bantayan received basic
tools and
building materials funded by
Lutheran
World Relief.
©Habitat for
Humanity International/Jason
Asteros
can
always
be done’
Six months after Typhoon Haiyan, Habitat Philippines
remains dedicated to helping families repair and rebuild
Violeta
Canales and
her son, Justin, 1, join
neighbors in
Daan
Bantayan to
receive shelter repair kits
from Habitat
Philippines.
J.P. Morgan
donated materials for the
kits. © Habitat for Humanity International/
Jason Asteros
By Teresa K. Weaver
HFHI editorial director
N
atural disasters are no
stranger to the Philippines. But Typhoon
Haiyan, which struck on Nov.
8, 2013, was different. It was
a monster, packing sustained
winds of 195 mph and storm
surges of nearly 20 feet. More
than 6,000 people died, and
an estimated 1 million homes
were destroyed or severely
damaged.
Six months later, recovery has
been complicated by many
factors, including widespread
poverty, bad weather, the epic
scope of the damage, vastly
underresourced local government units, and simple logistics. The Philippines is made
up of more than 7,000 islands,
most accessible only by boat.
The challenges of rebuilding
have been daunting, but they
are not insurmountable, said
Jef Calomarde, resource development manager at Habitat for Humanity Philippines.
“We believe that nothing is
impossible when it comes to
helping people,” he said.
“We believe that things can
always be done.”
Within a few days of the typhoon, Habitat Philippines
staff had begun distributing
emergency shelter kits in small
motorboats to the more remote
islands.
Lucilla Gilbuena was one of 50
families on the islet of Panangatang that received kits, funded by Habitat Great Britain and
UK Aid.
“We had nothing,” Gilbuena
said. “With the tarp, we can
live here and still have some
income. We can start again.”
The emergency shelter kit allowed Gilbuena to keep her
family safe and dry, and also
to reopen her small sundries
shop and start earning income
again.
Now, almost all 50 families on
Panangatang have resumed
their lives, fishing the deep-
Continued on next page
Lucilla Gilbuena’s family
has lived for
generations on
Panangatang,
an islet in the
province of
Cebu that was
virtually flattened by Typhoon Haiyan
in November
2013. An emergency shelter
kit from Habitat Philippines
allowed her to
keep her family safe and
dry, and also
to reopen her
small sundries
shop. © Habitat for Humanity International/Jason
Asteros
Six months after Typhoon Haiyan, Habitat Philippines
remains dedicated to helping families repair and rebuild
area, with a project funded by
Christian Aid Ministries that will
include homes for 215 families.
Continued from previous page
blue waters and harvesting
neon-green seaweed. The
sounds of motorboats, coming
and going from the rocky landing area, are punctuated by
the sound of dozens of hammers.
Within a few weeks of the typhoon, Habitat Philippines had
switched from delivering tarps
to the more comprehensive
shelter repair kits, which include more permanent construction materials such as
coconut lumber and galvanized iron roofing.
So far, about 21,000 kits have
been distributed, toward a goal
of 30,000, as funding allows.
And on Feb. 10, 2014 — barely three months after one of
the most powerful typhoons in
modern history — Habitat Philippines laid the first bricks at a
Another rebuilding project is
underway in Tacloban that will
result in more than 600 core
houses on land donated by the
municipal government.
In Daan Bantayan, 75 core
houses are planned, and in
Javier, on the island of Leyte,
more than 300 houses will be
built.
Local laborer Jongzx Bentoldo uses a trowel to smooth a
concrete floor. Habitat Philippines is building 108 duplexes and two single-family homes on an unused parcel of
land in Santa Fe area that was nearly destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013. ©Habitat for Humanity
International/Jason Asteros
In addition to helping families
affected by the typhoon, Habitat Philippines has begun
building the first of 8,083
homes in Bohol for families
affected by a devastating
earthquake that struck less
than a month before Haiyan.
reconstruction site in Santa
Fe, a municipality of Bantayan
Island, in northern Cebu province.
On the long road to recovery
after any disaster, a safe, decent shelter is the first critical
step.
The groundbreaking marked
the start of reconstruction
efforts by Habitat for Humanity Philippines in the affected
INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS: 121 Habitat St. Americus, GA 31709-3498 USA 229-924-6935 800-HABITAT habitat.org