Philippines Typhoons Goni and Vamco Fund

Note: This appeal is now closed. You can support our ongoing work by donating to the Canadian Red Cross.

The Typhoons
The island groups of Luzon and Visayas were hit by a series of powerful storms in October and November of 2020.

Super Typhoon Goni, known locally as Rolly, was one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record and the most powerful to hit anywhere in the world in 2020. It made landfall over Catanduanes, Camarines Sur and Albay provinces on November 1 as a category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 225km per hour and gusts of up to 280km per hour.

Less than two weeks later, another Typhoon, Vamco, known locally as Ulysses, made its landfall in Quezon prince near the capital of Manila with sustained winds of 155km per hour and gusts of up to 225km per hour.

The typhoons were different in strength and geographic impact, but both resulted in destruction and hardship for some of the most vulnerable communities in the Philippines. The same communities that have already suffered greatly due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Red Cross Response
The Philippines Red Cross were involved in responding to the typhoons before they even hit, supporting preemptive evacuations, and mobilizing personnel and supplies to potential typhoon-affected areas.

After the storms hit, Philippines Red Cross chapters responded immediately with search and rescue and first aid. In addition, teams provided hot meals, relief items, water and sanitation, and psychosocial support, as well as face masks to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The Philippines Red Cross will continue to provide support to survivors of the storms to help them recover.

Canadian Red Cross Support
Thanks to our generous donors to the Philippines Typhoons Goni and Vamco Fund, who gave over $76,000, the Canadian Red Cross is supporting a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project to help the hard-hit communities in the Province of Albay recover from the storms.

After Typhoon Rolly struck, Guinobatan, Albay was left with no access to potable water or water for domestic use when its handpumps were destroyed. This project will provide the community with a new water system.

The project will achieve three key outputs:

1. Hygiene Leadership
   1. Train 15 Water and Sanitation Authority Members
   2. Train 10 WASH Committee Members
   3. Train 10 Operations and Maintenance Personnel
2. Hygiene Promotion
   1. Produce and distribute informational material on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene practices to four communities in Albay, reaching over 60,000 people.
3. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Infrastructure
   1. Construct a new water system in San Francisco, Guinobatan, Albay, which will provide clean water for over 700 residents.

Thank you to those who generously donated to the Philippines Typhoons Goni and Vamco Fund.

*Last updated: August 2021