Scottish Catholic Observer

Volunteers for the charity Mary’s Meals have been left with nothing after their homes were swept away by devastating flash floods in the southern Philippines.

Hundreds of people have been killed by flash floods triggered by Tropical Storm Washi affecting areas including Dumaguete City where Mary’s Meals provides food to 2000 impoverished school pupils and to children living or working on the streets.

Some of the volunteers for Mary’s Meals fled to safety by taking shelter in one of the charity’s feeding centres after their houses were swept away by the torrential floods and landslides. All the volunteers and children receiving Mary’s Meals have been accounted for.

Mary’s Meals, which provides meals to children at three schools in the shanty town area of Dumaguete City and to a community on the outskirts of the city, is responding to requests for funds to rebuild the homes of 10 volunteers.

“Thousands are displaced and all those along riverbanks lost their homes … children’s bodies floated on rivers,” Virginia Villahermosa, head of Mary’s Meals’ programme in Philippines, said.  “Yesterday, the volunteers were still digging in the mud trying to retrieve whatever they could. They were wet and dirty and they have no other clothes except what they have on. They wanted to put up makeshift tents but they just have nothing at all, even their little possessions were all swept away or whatever they retrieved was all wrapped in mud.”

The charity has been operating in the Philippines since 2006 and Chief Executive Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow said they were extremely concerned about the situation.

“We are extremely saddened to hear of the devastation that has swept through the Philippines and which has claimed so many lives, leaving people with nothing,” he said.  “Our desire was to take urgent action and respond to the requests of help from our friends. We are continuing to stay in close contact with them so we can support those who are hungry and in need in any way we can.”

—To make a donation please visit http://www.marysmeals.org

Pictured above: A resident carries chairs he salvaged from his damaged shanty on Sunday after flash floods brought by Tropical Storm Washi hit Iligan City in the southern Philippines. Church agencies teamed with international aid groups and the Philippine government to assist tens of thousands of people made homeless in the disaster