hen Disaster Strikes
Dec 18, 2015
The Philippines
A group of over seven thousand islands off the coast of South-East Asia
With a population of 100 million people
The third most at risk country in the world to natural disasters
Over 80% of Filipinos are Catholic
This church is being used to store food supplies after a typhoon.
More than one third of Filipinos live in rural areas. The main cash crops grown by farmers are rice, corn,
coconut, sugarcane and bananas.
On December 3, 2012 Typhoon Bopha made land fall on the southern island of Mindanao.
It was a category 5 super typhoon with wind speeds up to 278km/hr.
Because 25% of the population live below the poverty line it is difficult for people to bounce back after a
disaster.
The Philippines experiences at least 20 typhoons per year. At least oneof these causes significant damage.
Humanitarian agencies like Caritas use a model called ‘the emergency cycle’ to help plan their work after a disaster.
The Emergency Cycle
Mitigation Phase
Communities are rebuilt in such a way as to reduce the risk of damage in another typhoon.
This house is strapped to the foundations with metal strips to make it more stable in a storm.
Subsidiarity
When working with people after a disaster, Caritas tries to put into action the Catholic social teaching principle of subsidiarity.
This means that decision-making about how to rebuild involves the contribution of those who have been affected.