Almera
Who is helping keep Almera’s family—and thousands more like hers—safe, dry, and sheltered? You are. Right alongside our partner on the ground, the incredible team at ShelterBox.
Meet Almera. She lives in the Cebu region of the Philippines with her husband and their eight children. Almera’s home was destroyed by December’s Super Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette. With the strength similar to a category five hurricane, the typhoon wreaked destruction across eleven regions of the country. More than half a million homes were damaged, of which more than 150,000 were completely destroyed. Almera’s home was one of them. She recounted her experience firsthand:
“We were all together just before the typhoon hit—we were watching the weather and noticed the rain was getting heavier.
It was painful when it fell on our skin, and we were falling around due to the strong winds.
That’s when we knew we had to evacuate.
Even supplies such as food we were unable to prepare,” she said.
Fortunately, just as the storm was starting, the family found shelter at Almera’s sister’s house. They waited anxiously. When it was safe, they returned to their home only to find it absolutely decimated by the storm.
Soon after, Almera and her husband picked up shelter kits and other critical household items from a ShelterBox distribution site. Included in her shelter kit was a tarpaulin, which is a large sheet of waterproof material.
“Now we have the tarpaulin, we no longer get wet when it rains,” Almera said.
ShelterBox’s coordinated response, which has been led locally by Filipino people, has supported 9,500 families so far in Southern Cebu, including Sibonga, Argao, and Dalaguete.
Because of your incredible $200,000 investment, their team is launching a phase two to help meet the needs of 10,000 additional families.
We hope to share another update with you soon. For now, know that you are holding Almera, her husband, their eight children, and thousands more families like hers close as they begin to recover.
Thank you to TEAM LOVE, our recurring donors, who make it possible for us to activate immediately when crises like Super Typhoon Rai strike.
Photos courtesy of ShelterBox