Philippines Relief 2014

Dear Jubilee Church,

As the holiday season approaches and we begin to reflect upon the past year, we remember your generous support of ICM after Typhoon Haiyan. This is at the forefront of our mind especially as Typhoon Hagupit approaches the Philippines. As a church family, you donated HK$35,000 last year to help families in traumatized communities in the Philippines recover from their desperate situation.

This generous gift has reached families in far-flung communities during 2014 with necessary resources to survive after the typhoon as well as life-changing education that will prepare them for impending storms and carry on beyond the year’s end.

Your generous support encouraged us. Now we hope to encourage you with this report of how you all have made a difference in impoverished Filipino communities.

Typhoon Haiyan: A Review

The storm swept through the central Philippines on 8 November, 2013, causing severe and widespread damage. In just 16 hours, Typhoon Haiyan caused a level of destruction within 14.1 million people’s lives that will take years to fully recover from and will be impossible to forget.

Thanks to the generous outpouring of support from your congregation, ICM was able to respond to this crisis immediately. We were able to distribute emergency relief supplies to communities in Iloilo, Bacolod and Cebu who were badly affected by the typhoon. Through our extensive pastor network on the ground, ICM was able to identify the needs of the poorest of the poor in these areas so that we could provide targeted and necessary support in three stages.

Short-Term Response

Many families lost their homes and were left with no access to food or water after Typhoon Haiyan swept through their community. ICM mobilized our food supply and reached the families in desperate need with food packs and water.

ICM reached

30,331 families with emergency relief supplies including

2.4 million meals

4,400 gallons of water

We also shared 1,146,528 meals with other relief organizations.

Mid-Term Response

Local pastors—and their tireless commitment to serve the ultra poor in their communities—are the heart of ICM and all that we do. Oftentimes, the church is the only source of spiritual, mental and physical support for the families we are trying to reach. So, as we shifted from our short-term relief phase into our mid-term relief strategy in February, we decided to help these pastors. Distributions of food and clean water slowed down as families’ needs stabilized so we shifted our focus on holistic rehabilitation for entire communities.

We distributed small cash loans, including HK$746,751 to churches that needed help with repairs. We believe that these pastors and their churches are the most important resource these ultra poor families have and that strengthening these communities begins with strengthening their pastors.

ICM was able to give

5 vans and motorbikes to Cebu

4,396 solar lights to pastors and families

and 16,113 bars of soap.

The Story of One Pastora

Pastora Lolita leads a church in the mountainous area of Lambunao, Iloilo. Her small church made of wood and bamboo was destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan. The morning after the typhoon, church members gathered to help rebuild the church. Their efforts proved effective as they restored the church to its former shape. Unfortunately, its former shape would not likely stand up to future typhoons. Thanks to your church family, ICM was able to give Pastora Lolita support so the community members could build a stronger, more sustainable church building.

After the typhoon hit, the number of active members of the church increased from 20-100 people — a testament to what a source of strength and support the church is to families facing overwhelming distress. With the help you have given Pastora Lolita, she hopes to move the church to a more accessible location for members, increase the size of the church and even add a kindergarten for the increasing number of children in the community. Your support has empowered ICM to help 450 local slum churches just like Pastora Lolita’s to rebuild stronger buildings for their congregation.

Long-Term Response

Once typhoon victims returned to the stability of their day-to-day routines, their needs shifted from critical relief supplies to more long-term knowledge and resources. Families living in ultra poverty need strong social capital, a community of support that will help in times of great need. They benefit from practical health lessons and livelihood skills that allow them to start a business. More than anything, these families need hope for a better future.

From February through May, ICM ran 20 Transform programs in disaster-affected neighborhoods in the province of Iloilo. Each of these Transform Programs gathered 31 families — 620 families in total — to receive training through ICM’s Values,

Health and Livelihood (VHL) curriculum. In total, ICM has been able to extend long-term hope for a better future to typhoon victims in the following bases:

80 Iloilo Transform Communities | 70 Roxas Transform Communities | 34 Bacolod Transform Communities | 25 Cebu Transform Communities | 14 Palawan Transform Communities | 16 Bohol Transform Communities

Furthermore, ICM has developed an initiative to increase the disaster risk reduction and preparedness aspect of our long-term disaster response. This entire initiative hinges on our extensive network of compassionate partner pastors. ICM hosts disaster preparedness training days for pastors to attend. ICM received additional funding from Tearfund—a UK Christian relief and development agency—to put this initiative into action. We have already trained 400 pastors and hope to reach at

least 4,560 pastors with our disaster preparedness training so they can teach it to the members of their communities. The ultimate goal is to create safer and more resilient communities by working to help the pastor help his community.

Bracing for Typhoon Hagupit

As Typhoon Hagupit threatens to damage Iloilo and Cebu, our partner pastors brace themselves, using the valuable knowledge they have gained to prepare disaster plans for their community. They are mapping their communities, identifying hazards, preparing contingency plans, organizing disaster committees, making an inventory of useful supplies, identifying evacuation areas, and coordinating with local government agencies.

Thank you, Jubilee Church, for partnering with ICM and walking alongside pastors and ultrapoor communities for over a year. Please join us in praying for the safety of the ultrapoor communities in the Philippines as Typhoon Hagupit approaches. Pray that church buildings and homes will not crumble, that our partner pastors will remember the lessons they have learned and will lead their communities well.