MANILA (UCAN): Caritas Philippines together with Ateneo de Naga University, appealed for aid to help from home and abroad for recovery efforts after Super Typhoon Goni, known as Typhoon Rolly in the Philippines, barreled through the country on October 31 and November 1 (Sunday Examiner, November 8).
The world’s strongest storm this year killed at least 20 people and sparked mudslides that buried hundreds of homes, many near Mayon Volcano in Albay province.
The typhoon also forced around 390,000 people to seek shelter at evacuation centres. Many are yet to return to their homes.
Apart from appealing for help from local donors, Caritas Philippines also sought aid from Caritas Internationalis in Rome headed by the former archbishop of Manila, Antonio Luis Cardinal Tagle.
“Initial help would be to provide food, water and emergency shelter to people in the evacuation centers,” Bishop Colin Bagaforo, head of Caritas Philippines, said in a statement.
The bishop said the typhoon had brought “greater poverty” to communities that were suffering from job retrenchments in Metro Manila caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
“We appeal for everyone’s sincere acts of kindness, generosity and compassion,” Bishop Bagaforo added.
Father Anton Pascual, also from Caritas, said the dioceses of Virac, Daet and Legazpi d in the Bicol region of Luzon island would receive 200,000 pesos ($32,130) each.
Jesuit Father Roberto Rivera also appealed for donations from alumni and friends of Ateneo de Naga University.
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He said the university sustained damage from flooding and the typhoon’s strong winds that destroyed the doors and panels of the university church.
“The big wooden doors of our university church were torn off their hinges, windows in several buildings were totally smashed in, metal gutters and solar panels were blown off. Several of the oldest and biggest trees on campus were uprooted, but miraculously none of them hit adjacent buildings,” Father Rivera added.
Aside from material donations, Father Rivera said they needed prayers to help their lives get back to normal.
“We realise the resources of all are strained given the pandemic crisis, but a number of you (alumni and friends of the Ateneo) are already thoughtfully asking how to send help … Please be assured that whatever resources we collect will be channeled to the neediest,” he said.
Bishop Jose Alan Dialogo of Sorsogon, said his office was open to receive donations for typhoon victims in nearby provinces.
