Super Typhoon Brings Suffering to Filipino Saints
Dear brethren,
Philippine news reports plus firsthand accounts by our brethren in the central and northern parts of Luzon tell the sad story of super typhoon Haima (Filipino name Lawin). It plowed across Luzon on October 19-20, leaving a huge swath of destruction. Crops ready for harvest were devastated, homes were damaged or blown away, power lines and their poles were downed, and thousands of people fled to evacuation centers or were displaced. Many church buildings were damaged or destroyed. The land already had been saturated by another typhoon a few days before Haima hit with even greater fury, causing major flooding and dangerous landslides. For more details, see the news report below.
We have several thousands of brethren scattered throughout the regions which were hit so hard. Reliable men who are lifetime veterans of dozens and dozens of typhoons say that Haima (Lawin) is the strongest and most ferocious typhoon they have ever experienced. Here are a few excerpts from various reports:
“I have not seen any house, building that has no damaged! Even the cemented houses parts were downed but those in light materials were NO MORE! Many such homes were found parts in different places and some bigger portions were in the roads!”
“No Electricity and maybe weeks after they can restore!”
“Please pray that we can help our affected brethren especially for medicines and foods for this is the very most likely now needed especially to our less fortunate brethren who were severely affected!”
“…most rice plants that very near to harvest here is destroyed already brother because of wind and flood. That this is only their sources of income for the whole year brother. That’s why they badly need help also….Our brethren here in our area is also badly need help sir, for food, medicines and help so that they can start over again.”
“Because of the two typhoon pass in our Province many plants of our brethren was destroyed. Plants that are nearly to harvest like rice, corn, vegetables and bananas. Because of this destruction, we are expecting that prices of our daily basic needs will increase. For this reason it will be hard for us to purchase our daily needs because of high prices. On behalf of our brethren, may I humbly knock the door of your heart to ask your mercy and help for us. Our major needs this time is rice which is one of our major daily basic needs.”
“with God help we survived the super typhoon, but my house roof was blown away and the church building at San Luis and Sto.Tomas was destroyed….as of now I don’t know what to do, we have no electricity many roads are still closed, my wife and my children are crying, please kindly include us to your prayers.”
“…at 11:pm last night ‘typhoon lawin’ occurs/hit our region and this is the worst calamity/disaster that we experienced with my family that destroyed our home, we’ve lost our home that we built and worked for more than 10 years, the roof of our house has totally wrecked/damaged….I don’t know and how can we start again for our living, and for our future. My wife is always crying for our present hard situation but still we thank God for we are not physically injured”.
“On 19th began on 8 o’clock night the start of the tremendous power and speed of the typhoon, that I lean my fear and faith to God. If you look outside the effect of the typhoon it seems that night is like the end of the world for us.”
“…in short the super typhoon Lawin almost took everything that we worked very hard for many years. I do not know how will we start.”
One of the most frequently mentioned tragedies is that torrential rains ruined everything inside houses when the roofs, doors, and windows were blown away by fierce winds. In many cases houses in rural areas were demolished and all belongings were lost.
This is our family, the family of God, and we want to respond with love, wisdom, and compassion as quickly as possible. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Pet. 1:22).
Emergency needs include such things as food, water, simple medicines, and shelter. I do not know of any U.S. brethren who can personally deliver benevolence funds to the affected areas at this time. Harry Osborne will teach in Cebu City and Manila the first couple of weeks of next month, but he cannot go to the affected areas due to doctor’s orders because he is scheduled for hip replacement surgery immediately upon his return home. (He could deliver funds only to a messenger who might come to him in Manila.) Even if someone would attempt to go, it not would be safe to go into many of these areas under the current conditions.
I know faithful and reliable men across northern and central Luzon who personally know the conditions or who can depend on eyewitnesses from various rural and remote places. Until power is restored, funds cannot be delivered by MoneyGram or Western Union, but these men have bank accounts and the banks have generators so that they can conduct business. I will gladly put anyone who wants to send a wire from a U.S. bank to Philippine banks in touch with these men. Since I have sent bank wires in the past, I am willing to send funds there on behalf of anyone who might request it. Hopefully, before long MoneyGram and Western Union will be operational in these areas, but larger amounts are better sent by bank wire.
We will ask these faithful and reliable Filipinos to serve as messengers to deliver emergency benevolence to the saints in keeping with Bible principles. Paul wrote, “Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men” (2 Cor. 8:20-21). These men know well how to properly document the delivery of benevolence.
Individuals who want to donate $250 or more can make checks to Help A Neighbor in order to claim a tax deduction (approved under section 501 (C) 3 of the IRS Code). Churches asking me to relay funds should write the checks to Ron Halbrook. In either case, send the checks to my home address at 3505 Horse Run Ct., Shepherdsville, KY 40165-6954.
None of us can solve all the problems and heartaches many Filipino saints are experiencing as a result of this calamity, but let each of us do whatever we can to help. We ourselves are blessed when we serve and bless suffering saints, as Paul said in Acts 20:35, “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Above all, let us fervently pray for God’s hand of mercy, care, and comfort to lift up the hearts of His saints across northern Luzon!
In Christian love,
Ron Halbrook
Haima was the Philippines’s second typhoon in a week, and it left a trail of destruction
By Angela Fritz October 20 at 10:59 AM
On Tuesday morning, the storm known as Lawin to the Philippines and Haima to the rest of the world became the fifth super typhoon of 2016, with sustained winds of 160 mph. One day later, it slammed into northern Luzon as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane.
It ripped the roofs off well-constructed buildings and stripped the leaves and branches off trees. It completely destroyed less sturdy homes and businesses. It inundated saturated soil with over a foot of rain and pushed rivers into neighborhoods.
Most of the reports we’ve seen from northeast Luzon have come out of Tuguegarao, a high-population city in the region that sits along the Cagayan River. Trees are down, buildings are decimated — and this city is well inland. It did not endure the worst of Typhoon Haima, by far.
There’s no word from locations outside Tuguegarao due to communications damage, Philippines news website Rappler reports:
The provincial government of Cagayan said it is possible that 100% of houses in Tuguegarao City were either partially or fully damaged by Super Typhoon Lawin (Haima), which hit land on Wednesday night, October 19.
A Rappler reporter who is now in the provincial capitol said most houses and several commercial establishments were destroyed by the typhoon. Even the roof of Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba’s house was blown away.
The BBC is reporting at least four people have been killed, and that number will likely grow as we hear more from smaller, mountainous towns and villages near the coast. Two of those people were killed in a landslide triggered by a truly excessive amount of rainfall in the past seven days.
Haima made landfall in Luzon just days after Typhoon Sarika, which rapidly intensified into a Category 4 before striking the region. Sarika’s heavy rain had already saturated Luzon’s soil, which dramatically increased the chance of deadly landslides during the second typhoon of the week.
Haima was the fifth super typhoon in the northwest Pacific Ocean so far in 2016. The average for this time of year is approximately three. It’s also the seventh Category-5 equivalent of the year, globally.
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