Humanitarian Emergencies Victims Benefit from Church Organisations

Church and non-governmental organisations are aiding some 53,000 victims of 2006's fourth quarter humanitarian emergencies in Bicol, Philippines.

Christian Aid, an official agency of 40 churches abroad, extended necessary assistance to the typhoon victims in Sorsogon through its local partner organisations, the Coastal Community Resources (Coastal CORE) and Livelihood Development, Inc, and the Community Organisation of the Philippine Enterprise (COPE), Inc.

Materials and psychological assistance went to some 3,500 families of the fisherfolk and homeless residents from the coastal areas of this city and the municipalities of Prieto Diaz and Gubat. More than 6,000 families in the province of Albay were affected by the successive typhoons, including some 1,000 fishers affected by red tide.

Myrna Abella-Llanes, COPE coordinator for Bicol, said that the Disaster Management Programme of the three organisations do not only delve on giving the victims immediate assistance like food. They also provide psychological and psychodynamic rehabilitation counselling for affected individuals by assessing the victims' level of stress and their ability to manage it.

"Our common goal is to help the victims cope with trauma and problems that affect their physical and emotional well-being," she explained.

Shirley Bolaños, coastal CORE executive director, said that it will take several years for the victims of the various disasters to recover. "Coastal CORE, Inc., on one hand, specifically looked after the fishers' welfare because aside from being typhoon victims they were also adversely affected by the red tide in Sorsogon Bay, since October 2006 up to the present, which is the longest period and the highest toxicity level ever noted in the area," she said.

"We believe that providing emotional and spiritual rehabilitation would bring the calamity victims new hope and enough motivation to overpower the condition that they are presently experiencing," Bolaños said.