Devastation is all that remains after the strongest storm in decades raged through the Philippines this week.
Homes and communities were destroyed when winds of 235 kilometres per hour that gusted to 275 km/h blew through with a storm surge six metres high. In some cases, residents have been cut off from basic needs.
“The catastrophe is so devastating, one place, Tacloban City, the whole city … the whole province is totally wiped out,” Aida Champagne of the Filipino Seniors Group of Winnipeg said.
Winnipeg’s Filipino community is banding together to help.
“The Filipino community in Manitoba is very close,” said Fred Devilla from The Philippine-Canadian Centre of Manitoba. “They are really pushing hard to get donations.”
The Filipino Seniors Group of Winnipeg had a fundraising drive on Nov.9 and 10, taking donations over the phone and in person.
Mike Pajemolin, who works for HOPE Worldwide Philippines, a non-profit organization, said the funds will be used to buy necessities.
“Water, food and medicine,” said Pajemolin. “If you see the news lately, people have been ransacking the malls and just stealing all the stuff that they can, because right now, it’s survival on the ground.”
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