Build Rescue Boats in Flood Prone Communities

With summer now upon us our thoughts are with our friends in the Philippines. While typhoons can strike the country at any time, August is traditionally the most active month. So, since our last report we’ve been working with our amazing local partner Buklod Tao to help the community of Banaba prepare for disaster.

Thanks to your incredible generosity we’ve helped provide 12 flood rescue boats to this community on the outskirts of Manila. We’ve now almost raised enough to provide another boat, but when we asked Buklod Tao about their priorities they reminded us not to forget the amazing volunteer crews who use these life-saving vessels to rescue their neighbours when the worst happens. Other volunteers help respond in other ways and Ka Noli had to this to say about the selfless teams of individuals who put themselves in harms way:

“Our consensus is to provide ponchos to four boat crews, thus 20 ponchos in total. The same thing is also true for the life vests, i.e. 20 pcs for 4 crews. But we also want to provide 75 team members (inclusive of community kitchen volunteers) with accident insurance valid for 1 year.”

These volunteers are essential to keeping the community safe, so we were keen to support this work and recently provided around $500 or £400 to cover the costs.

Yet, these crews need a base of operations and this base is the Banaba Livelihood and Evacuation Centre which is also used as shelter during typhoons and accompanying floods.

So, with your fantastic support we’ve also helped Buklod Tao to undertake some important maintenance and improvements to the building.

Buklod Tao’s President Ka Noli, described the work that needed doing:

“The Center maintenance is an important item on our agenda. In our latest meetings we have been discussing that the roof or downspouts have not been repaired or repainted since installation in October 2013.

At present, the room for sewing tetra bags/pots/coco feet [for income generation], the storage room adjacent to it and the lighting fixture at the 2nd floor stairways have no electric power. We would therefore like to use funds from IDV donors to undertake this work”

Ensuring the Centre is watertight and usable for both evacuations and as a base for coordinating the rescue boats is vital. So, we were happy to support these initiatives.

All these vital preparations are only possible thanks to your continued generosity.

We’ll keep you posted as our work in Banaba continues, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I’d be delighted to hear from you as always.