Residents of the Visayan Islands and sections of Mindanao are still working to recover from the destruction caused by Typhoon Rai, also known as Odette locally, which ravaged these regions of the Philippines on December 16, 2021.
Authorities estimate that Typhoon (Odette)Rai damaged the region’s infrastructure and agriculture for USD 548 million (PHP 28 billion). The hurricane impacted up to 3.6 million people, and as late as December 24, 2021, over 76,000 households were required to remain in evacuation centers. As of January 1, 2022, 405 individuals had died, and 82 remained missing.
According to Michael Rama, the city’s mayor, Typhoon (Odette)Rai severely damaged Cebu City, with residential losses totaling USD 33.2 million (PHP 1.7 billion). Parts of the city still need electricity, which will likely be fixed entirely at the end of January 2022. The typhoon’s devastation puts additional strain on an economy already struggling under the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
Cebu City, often known as the “Queen City of the South” in the Philippines, is a significant commercial, tourist, and cultural center in the region. It sits in the middle of Metro Cebu, the second-largest urban area in the Philippines after Manila, the capital. The city served as the venue for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit in January 2015. BingoPlus coordinated with the government of Cebu City to reach out to local residents affected by the typhoon.
BingoPlus organized the workforce in the Visayas, a website for online entertainment owned by the Leisure & Resorts World Corporation (LWRC), to deliver aid and shelter to the hardest-hit areas in the Cebu and Bohol provinces during Typhoon Odette.
Early in January, BingoPlus volunteers from Cebu traveled to Sitio Mar Beach, Barangay Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City, in collaboration with One Race For Filipino Services, Inc.. This nonprofit organization responds rapidly to communities and individuals in need of urgent assistance. The mission was to distribute care packages to families who had not yet received aid or relief following the storm.
Over 800 households in Lapu-Lapu City received rice, canned goods, noodles, coffee, milk, water, vitamins, spaghetti sauce, children’s notebooks, and crayons. Additionally, BingoPlus helped One Race For Filipinos provide supplies and construct shelters for Ubay, Bohol communities that lacked running water and power.
Senior adults in the neighborhood were picked out by One Race For Filipino Services, Inc., which emphasizes support for PWDs, senior citizens, pregnant women, and single moms. They were given building materials and assisted in erecting sturdy shelters to last for the foreseeable future.
The group is soliciting more money to increase the number of recipients in the region.
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