Haiyan, one of the most devastating tropical storms of all times, struck the Philippines on November 8, 2013. Millions of people, mostly children, will be needing international help for months. The inhabitants of the eastern Philippine islands of Leyte and Samar were hit particularly hard. For this reason, we dedicated the traditional Memmert Christmas donation of 40,000 € to the reconstruction of the SOS Children's Village in Tacloban on the island of Leyte.
Typhoon Haiyan has long vanished from the news, but the suffering and destruction that it left is taking away the excitement of most Philippine people towards the Christmas season. The storm claimed more than ten thousand lives, millions of people are suffering from hunger and diseases and beyond that have lost all their belongings. The United Nations continues to be on high alert. According to most recent estimations, 5 million children alone need urgent help to survive.
The region surrounding Tacloban is particularly affected
Haiyan first struck the region surrounding the coast of Tacloban on November 8, 2013, on the eastern Philippine island of Leyte. That is why repercussions there are particularly dramatic. Metre high waves flooded the streets and caused houses to collapse. The SOS Children's Village was also badly damaged. Children and Children's Village mothers are luckily doing well and were able to find accommodation in other Children's Villages, but the children and families who receive aid from the SOS family strengthening programme are in urgent need of clothes, food, medicine, water and blankets.
In view of the humanitarian catastrophe on the Philippines, Memmert's managing director Christiane Riefler-Karpa did not hesitate to dedicate this year's Christmas donation of 40,000 € to the SOS Children's village in Tacloban. Please help as well! You can find more information at sos-kinderdorfinternational.org.
