Special Offering Calamity Appeal
On November 8, 2013 a super typhoon named Yolanda hit the central Philippines and the eye of the typhoon hit the area Carol and I live in and destroyed many homes and structures. We call this Triple T-Calamity as this sums up what has happened. We were hit by a super Typhoon, multiple small tornadoes and winds that caused trees to destroy many structures and dwellings. Our house was hit by three fallen trees and the wind was so strong that rain came through the windows horizontally. Weather specialists state that these were the strongest winds ever recorded since recording began and that there was no expectation of winds of ever reaching this level of destruction. International reports list the current death toll as over 10,000 and rising. No idea yet as to how many are injured as some areas are hard to get in to. Where we are was the eye of the typhoon and we understand that Kalibo was hit bad but still has no communication. We just completed the small native chapel and are anxious to see if it survived.
We are now without electricity and we are advised it may be a long time until electricity is restored to us and most communication providers are down as well. Homes all around us made of light wood materials or native materials have been flattened and many people are now living in sheds made up of debris from these houses. We have done a lot of our Hunger Relief and outreach work in this area and so know many people that have been affected. We are providing what we can but are limited by funds as we raise all our additional funds via special appeal.
We would like to ask your church and groups to take a special Calamity offering for us and send this to our forwarding agent. Please let her know it is from this Calamity appeal and she will make sure it gets to us as fast as we can so we can continue to help those in severe and desperate need. There is no heavy equipment available and people around us are clearing trees and branches by hand with the help of Kane knives used in harvesting. Almost everyone is in the same boat and we are told little if any relief can be given by the government since it has been struck by so many major disasters in the past couple of months. They are depending on the international community to help in this massive task that all of us face.
We ask each church we are sending this email to prayerfully consider a special offering for this major disaster that will have a lasting effect on hundreds and even thousands of families in our region as food runs out and health issues increase. We want to help rebuild a number of these homes of people we are working with in our region as well as provide some additional feeding programs. These people include River and Mountain People and native ethic tribes with many children. We have one feeding program scheduled in the village hall or what is left of it on Friday November 16, 2013. Please pray for us. We appreciate this very much and will keep you posted the best we can with our communication limitations. Thank you in advance for your prayers and hopefully for your financial special gift towards this great need.
Serving the Lord in the Philippines
Darryl & Carol Krause
Pacific Rim Ministries
