Disaster Response Turkey Project #46416

Emergency Response in Asia and Western Asia

by The Mustard Seed Mission

Emergency Response in Asia and Western Asia

Project Report | Feb 7, 2024
Together, We Made a Difference

By Denny Chou | Supervisor, International Mktg Resource Centre

Dear Donor,

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for your generous support of our Emergency Response in Asia and Western Asia project. Your donation has made a real difference in the lives of people affected by disasters in the region.

As you may know, we have been working hard to help the people affected by various disasters in Asia and Western Asia, such as the Turkey-Syria earthquake, and the Typhoon Koinu. Thanks to your donation, we have been able to provide them with essential supplies, shelter, medical care, and psychosocial support. We have also been involved in the reconstruction and recovery of their homes and communities.

However, we have also realised that disasters are not only a local issue, but also a global one. In order to better respond to the changing and complex needs of the disaster victims, we have decided to transform our former Domestic Disaster Prevention Unit into a new department, called Global Disaster Reduction and Relief Division. This new department will be responsible for disaster relief and aid work both inside and outside Taiwan, covering the aspects of prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery. This means that we will no longer only conduct emergency response for specific disasters in Asia and Western Asia, but rather provide more diverse and continuous support and service to the people in need around the world.

Therefore, we have decided to merge our project “Emergency Response in Asia and Western Asia” into a new project, called “Global Disaster Reduction and Relief”. This new project will reflect our new work scope and direction, and will enable us to manage our resources and reports more efficiently, and to provide clearer and consistent information and feedback to our donors. We hope that you will continue to support us in this new project, and join us in our mission to reduce the risk and impact of disasters, and to empower people to cope with and overcome the challenges.

We also want to invite you to consider another project that we are currently running, called “Help Taiwan Vulnerable Families Facing Emergency”. This project aims to help the low-income and disadvantaged families in Taiwan who are facing various emergencies, such as illness, injury, unemployment, debt, or domestic violence. We provide them with financial aid, counseling, legal assistance, and other services, to help them overcome their difficulties and improve their quality of life.

Your previous donations to the Emergency Response in Asia and Western Asia project has helped us to:

Typhoon Koinu - Relief and Recovery in Lanyu

Phase 1: Immediate relief. We conducted a field assessment and airlifted supplies to meet the urgent needs of the people. We also distributed emergency relief funds of 10,000 NTD (about 320 USD) to each household of our sponsored children.
Phase 2: Post-disaster life recovery. We completed the survey and measurement of the damaged houses and furniture on October 27, 2023, with the help of a professional repair team. We assessed the repair and replacement needs of 11 households and one church.

Turkey–Syria earthquakes – Relief and Recovery

Clean water and sanitation: over 1,000 people have access to clean water and sanitation facilities.
Health assistance and psychological support: over 3,500 people have received health assistance and psychological support.
Shelter: over 20 households have been provided with shelter.
Emergency shelter kits: over 1,600 households have received emergency shelter kits.
Emergency relief grants: over 160 households have received emergency relief grants.

(English Dubbed)

And from December 2023 to May 2024, we have planed to:

Typhoon Koinu - Relief and Recovery in Lanyu

Phase 3: Post-disaster life reconstruction. We officially started the construction work on December 11, 2023, to help 11 households and one church repair their houses, and provide them with relevant facilities and equipment, such as bed sets, water heaters, refrigerators, washing machines, piano, TV, air conditioner, etc.
Phase 4: Post-disaster community industry recovery. We helped five chicken farmers rebuild their chicken coops, and provided them with chicks, feed, etc.

Turkey–Syria earthquakes – Relief and Recovery

Build transitional shelters in Turkey.
Install solar panels in refugee shelters in Syria.
Equip refugee shelters, restore community health centres, provide medical care in Syria.

We are grateful for your support of this important work.

Sincerely,

The Mustard Seed Mission

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Oct 12, 2023
Typhoon Koinu hits Orchid Island in Taiwan!

By Wu Bing-han | Project Leader

Typhoon Koinu () pummels Taiwan with record winds. Strong gusts of magnitude 17 devastated the entire island and caused severe disasters. The Mustard Seed Mission Disaster Prevention and Relief Center has been conducting disaster reviews on Orchid Island for four days starting from October 7th and providing timely needs. After reviews, we have found a family that has urgent special needs for a baby. The Mustard Seed Mission assists in airlifting supplies to Orchid Island during urgent days and distributes emergency relief funds of NT$10,000 to each family that it serves.

The typhoon caused serious damage to the village houses, The Mustard Seed Mission launched a fundraiser for Orchid Island's post-disaster reconstruction, established an Orchid Island Helping Network, and called on the public to help the affected residents rebuild their homes and resume their daily lives.

The Mustard Seed Mission Disaster Prevention and Relief Center went to Orchid Island to investigate and provide assistance. The typhoon severely damaged local buildings and vehicles.

Wu Bing-han, director of the Disaster Prevention and Relief Center, said that the roofs of residents' houses and water towers were blown off, and the water tower even flew halfway up the mountain. People have to go up the mountain to carry water. An old man said: "I have never encountered such a typhoon. 90% of the fishing boats have capsized." Most families on the island do not have electricity, and it rains intermittently. They are also worried that the next typhoon may come.

The families served by The Mustard Seed Mission suffered from house's broken windows and leaking roofs due to the typhoon.

The Mustard Seed Mission's social workers have been involved in local rescue work for several days, providing timely assistance and care, understanding the disaster situation, and planning the follow-up assistance work.

The Langdao tribe was seriously damaged due to the telegraph poles being blown down. It will be the last tribe to have power restored on Orchid Island. In Langdao tribe, one of the families served by The Mustard Seed Mission's children sponsorship program has urgent special needs for a baby. After coordination, the supplies were airlifted to Orchid Island for the baby's needs. The Mustard Seed Mission will also issue an emergency relief fund of NT$10,000 to each family that engages in the children sponsorship program to meet the urgent needs of life.

The Mustard Seed Mission Disaster Prevention and Relief Center's staff went to visit affected families (left) and farmers whose chicken houses were damaged by the typhoon (right).

"The most important thing at the moment is to restore residents' homes and lives as soon as possible." Li Zhao-jia, CEO of The Mustard Seed Mission said that The Mustard Seed Mission has been deeply involved in Orchid Island for many years. In addition to the current family services, there are also churches cultivated and established by the founder of The Mustard Seed Mission in the early years, as well as there are many recipients who used to live in Orchid Island who received vocational training from The Mustard Seed Mission have deep feeling to the island.

This year, The Mustard Seed Mission encourages indigenous youth to raise laying hens through natural farming methods, which not only supplies local needs but also hopes to promote economic and industrial development. However, in this typhoon, the roofs of the chicken coops and farmers' houses were blown away.

The Mustard Seed Mission has established a helping network on Orchid Island. In addition to connecting cooperative companies and other resources for support, the indigenous youths from Jianshi Township, Hsinchu, and Haiduan Township, Taitung, which The Mustard Seed Mission has trained, have also formed a volunteer team to rebuild the chicken coops and homes.

The Orchid Island post-disaster recovery requires funding for building repairs, disaster preparedness food storage hubs, emergency rescue equipment setting, community industry recovery, etc., and is in urgent need of public support!

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Jun 15, 2023
Connecting 7,800 Kilometers of Love

By Ni Hsin | Project Leader

The Mustard Seed Mission (MSM) continues to watch the disaster relief in Syria, linking up with Habibi International, an international humanitarian relief cooperative organization, to provide emergency aid for "immediate relief" and "shelter construction"; and working with local churches in Lebanon and Syria to provide supplies to local rescue teams for long-term. Facing the internal conflict in Syria and the more difficult aid work after the earthquake, MSM invites all churches in Taiwan to watch and pray together.

After the strong earthquake in Syria, many people returned home one after another, or moved to other areas with their relatives, and some rented houses through financial assistance, but there are still many people who can only live in shelters such as schools, and tents in parks.

Habibi International, together with its founder and CEO Willy Tan, witnessed the severe damage caused by the earthquake in the suburbs of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria. He said that coupled with the 10-year civil conflict, the local situation is very depressing; he was very inspired by the tenacity of the local people and the donations received from all over the world. At present, Habibi continues to work with Syrian partners to evaluate and provide the most suitable local earthquake relief work. Willy Tan also asks everyone to continue to pray for Syria.

Local groups of volunteers providing food relief said there had seen an increase in the amount of food they provided in the past few weeks as buildings collapsed and people moved out. Many Christian NGOs and local churches used existing resources to open their doors to shelter the homeless and set up volunteer kitchens to pack and distribute cooked meals, packaged food, and hygiene kits, mobilizing many volunteers to support them around the clock.

Habibi International has been stationed in Iraq for a long time and serves Syrian refugees. After the earthquake, MSM provided emergency aid to Habibi. The local assistance work includes:

1. Immediate Relief and Assistance: Provide cooked meals, packaged food, and medical supplies to people living in group shelters and parks.

2. Renovation of shelter facilities: Construction and decoration of shelter facilities.

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