Template:Humanitarian Aid Updates
Mormons Provide 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 6,000 people [1] and left a million homeless. It was so large that it would have covered nearly the entire area of the continental U.S. 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. [2]
More than 14,000 members and others have sought refuge in 200 Church meetinghouses.
Missionaries were evacuated to higher ground as Haiyan approached, and all missionaries equipped themselves with 72-hour emergency kits. Even so, some missionaries had to rely on prayer and the help of God to get to safety. [3] All Mormon missionaries were accounted for, and those stranded in stricken areas were flown to Manilla. Thereafter, many were mobilized to help. Following the repackaging of rice, the missionaries along with Filipino soldiers distributed goods in Tacloban to those in great need.
In Utah, former Mormon missionaries to the Philippines organized to collect donations to send back to the country in which they served, and a Moslem benefactor matched up to $100,000 in donations made to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to provide aid. The Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake City regularly partners with the LDS Church on other humanitarian issues. [4]
In February 2014 an article was posted in the LDS Church News reporting on the ongoing LDS humanitarian aid to Tacloban, Philippines. As in the 2004 devastating tsunami that struck coastal regions in Asia, the Mormons were often the first to arrive, but also last to leave, with aid continuing through years of rebuilding. Forty-two Latter-day Saints were killed by typhoon Haiyan, and many lost their homes. "...the Church sent relief supplies and partnered with local and international relief organizations to assist with food, shelter, water purification, debris removal, and livelihood restoration projects. To date, Church members have constructed more than 250 shelters, with new homes being completed every day....Members are receiving vocational training and learning skills as carpenters, electricians or plumbers. The Church is also helping them obtain basic tools needed to construct shelters to house those who lost their homes during the disaster."- “Each family is given materials to build a new shelter and tools to assist,” explained Mormon Area President Brent Nielson. “The family builds their own home with the assistance of a carpenter and three other members. Once the shelter is built then the family assists nine other families in building their shelter. At the end of that experience, the family is given the tools to keep and a certificate of carpentry is issued certifying that they have learned basic carpentry skills. They are then able to apply for the many construction jobs that are now available in Tacloban. In the process, the Church helps them help themselves. They help other members and in the process gain a marketable skill.”
