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Kamurri leaves thousands of children homeless

After typhoon Kamurri destroyed their house, Mark Glenn, 11 and his younger brother John Quiel spend their days helping their father build a makeshift shelter.

After typhoon Kamurri destroyed their house, Mark Glenn, 11 and his younger brother John Quiel spend their day carrying anahaw or palm leaves to help their father build a makeshift shelter.

“At night, my father, two younger brothers and I sleep together in our small temporary shelter. My mother and our newly born sister stay in our grandparents’ house because baby won’t stand the cold,” Mark Glenn shares.

“This is why we’re helping papa by gathering these anahaw leaves so he can immediately finish our house and our family can stay in one place again,” he adds.

According to the disaster risk reduction and management council, Kamurri has damaged over 390,000 houses across Regions I, III, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA, V, VI, VII, CAR and CARAGA, leaving children and families like Glen homeless. The number of affected people has also increased to more than 1.8 million.

Aside from their house, his father’s boat and fishing net were also damaged.

“We need support especially with our livelihood. Without our boat, we won’t have enough income to support the needs of our families, especially our children whose classes will resume soon,” his father said.

To complement the government-led relief operation, World Vision is responding in the provinces of Albay and Sorsogon through provision of hygiene and emergency shelter kits. World Vision is also ready to scale up its response as needed.

Everyone can make a huge difference in ensuring that the most vulnerable sectors will have the capacity to recover from the impact of a disaster. Disasters may be inevitable, but we can be ready and be proactive in managing disaster risks.