Template:Humanitarian Aid Updates
Mormons Begin Humanitarian Aid to the Philippines After Typhoon Haiyan
Mormons believe in preparedness, and LDS leaders prepared Mormon missionaries serving in the Philippines with 72-hour emergency kits, and evacuated many missionaries to safer areas before the storm struck.
Mormons are able to mobilize very quickly after natural disasters. Congregations are organized by location, and all have the same line of authority. The structure enables leaders to account for individuals under their care, and enables individuals to get word up the line of authority. Members are counseled to store food and prepare emergency kits, as well as to establish patterns of evacuation and communication within families in case of emergencies. After the disaster, the Church goes through the local hierarchy to assess needs and get aid in quickly.
Typhoon Haiyan was more powerful than hurricane Katrina, and may have killed over 10,000 people and left a million homeless. Immediately, Church leaders in Salt Lake City were in continual contact with regional Church leaders in the Philippines. Within a very short time, the Church was providing shelter, food, water and other basic supplies to evacuees and displaced families.
- “A Church Welfare Department employee [was] traveling to the island of Leyte with communication equipment to establish contact with the Tacloban mission president,” said Stephen B. Allen, Missionary Department managing director. "We plan to be in communication with those in Leyte by Saturday (November 9, 2013) in the Philippines.”
Efforts are also underway to make contact with Church members. More than 14,000 members and others have sought refuge in 200 Church meetinghouses.
Updates are available at LDS Newsroom.
Donations for LDS Church relief efforts can be made at LDS Emergency Response.
