Sendusout

The rainy season of 2006 has been unusually heavy here in the Philippines. Many of you probably remember our report and pictures from typhoon Melino last October. Well, a 3rd “Super Typhoon” hit the southern Luzon and Bicol region of the Philippines about 10 days ago. Around Manila (about 180 km north) we did not have much rain or wind but the reports of the destruction from Typhoon Reming quickly began to pour in. The destruction was massive. Concrete homes were leveled to rubble, roofs were ripped off, homes were completely buried in 15 feet or more of mud and stone, and hundreds of people were killed.

A small group from our mission acted immediately last week by taking 2 trucks of food, gasoline, building materials, clothes, and toys to the area to provide relief for as many as possible and to assess the damage for ongoing relief efforts. Nazarene Compassionate Ministries helped organize some of the relief along with many individual missionaries from various missions. WMC-AP sent Jay Mijares along with the team with a couple cameras and video cameras in order to document what the team saw and to get as many stories as he could.

Here are a few of the reports from the team and some photos.

The Typhoon hit on Thursday (Nov 30th) and was very unexpected since it was only a tropical storm until just before it hit the Bicol region whereupon it turned into a Super Typhoon with dozens of tornadoes at the eye. Winds at 230 km (about 150 mph) tore through the region and almost half a meter of rain fell in less than 24 hours. Black sand mixed with large boulders (called lahar) from Mayon Volcano was turned into a liquid death as it flowed down the mountain and into homes. The lahar flowed further than anyone thought and buried entire villages and towns as deep as 25 feet. During the flood the whole region was entirely covered with water…it looked like the ocean.