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Heifer Philippines opens new program
in disaster prone region

Heifer Philippines opens new program in disaster prone region

Albay, Philippines - Living in an evacuation center after a natural disaster is not at all easy. The congested and humid makeshift tents provide little comfort and basic tasks like getting drinking water and going to comfort rooms can become arduous struggles. For Nory Malate  however, the hardest part is not living in the cramped quarters. It is feeling helpless about her future after a typhoon killed two of her children and destroyed their home and livelihood.

“We used to be a happy family. I have three energetic children each with their own dream when they grow up. My husband Isagani is very hardworking. We had a water buffalo that helped us grow vegetables and I used to sell our harvest weekly in the market. Our income was small but enough to have simple and very contented life. But all of these were gone after typhoon Durian on November 30, 2006. We lost our home, farm, animals, and two of my children.  Norgin 15, our eldest, should have been senior high school now and dreamt of being a nurse someday; and Rea, our youngest who was in 3rd grade.”

Nory is just one of the 800,000 people displaced by Typhoon Durian whose 146-158 mph winds were aggravated by heavy mudflows from Mayon Volcano. In Albay alone, the disaster claimed 1,023 lives and damaged 212,060 houses and 4,153 schoolrooms. Damage to agriculture was estimated at US$40 Million, with US$3,429,059 incurred loss for livestock and poultry that affected 13,076 poor farmers. Most of those who were displaced like Nory are still living in cramped evacuation centers up to now as government and private organizations identify safe relocation sites and build houses. 

It has been more than a year since Typhoon Durian hit the Bicol Region yet more than a thousand families still live in evacuation centers in Albay

Albay is one of six provinces of Bicol Region in Philippine’s Southeast Luzon. Because of the region’s geographic location, it is battered almost throughout the year by the storms forming in the Pacific Ocean. According to statistics, Bicol experiences an average of 10-20 storms per year with winds as high as 170 mph over the last 20 years. The frequency of tropical storms and other natural disasters contributes to the high poverty incidence in the region.

Heifer International – Philippines has opened a new regional office in the Bicol. On January 25, 2008, it signed the letters of agreements for the first three subprojects that will be implemented in the Bicol provinces of Camarines Norte and Albay. The subprojects are under Heifer International’s Community Assets Building for Livelihood and Environmental Sustainability - Southeast Luzon project. Through the gifts of farm animals such as water buffalo, cows, goats, and bees; technical and Cornerstones trainings; seeds and seedlings; microfund; and other inputs 120 families will be assisted. They will also receive capacity building to implement a community-based disaster preparedness plan. (MM Umali)

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