Build Rescue Boats in Flood Prone Communities

Thanks to your amazing generosity even more communities are benefiting from flood rescue boats.

In our last project report we explained how the boat workshop you’d provided had been used to build three more boats. Since then the new boats have been dispatched to the Barangay (village) of Pinugay in Rizal province.

Unlike Banaba, which is vulnerable because of the many rivers, Pinugay is often flooded because it sits in the water catchment area of nearby mountains. But the boats built by our local partner, Buklod Tao, are just as effective there as near Manila, and the new boats are now keeping even more families safe from flooding. Thanks so much for helping to make this possible.

The boats sent to Pinugay were the smaller of two current versions produced by Buklod Tao. They’re 8ft x 4ft and their small size makes them ideal for entering the narrow alleys of urban Manila to reach the informal settler families along the riverbanks.

The larger version is 12ft x 5ft. This can carry more people but is too big to access the alleys. They’re also big enough to be equipped with an outboard motor, but the size of engine needed is quite expensive.

So, Buklod Tao have now started making plans for a new third version of boat. Their President Ka Noli explained as follows:

“There ought to be a crossbreed of the two [existing] boat designs: narrow enough to penetrate the alleys, long enough to accommodate up to 12 persons, fast enough to negotiate rampaging swift flood waters because of an out-board engine. By the way motors for the prospective new design are cheap in downtown Manila.”

We’re really excited to hear these plans and Buklod Tao are currently talking to a local engineering college to get some technical advice on the design.

We’ll keep you posted on developments as we continue to fundraise right here on GlobalGiving.

As always, if you ever have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you.