From 16 to 18 December, Typhoon Washi (locally Sendong) hit the northern and eastern regions of the Mindanao Island, the second largest island in the Republic of the Philippines. The Mindanao area of about 128,000 sq. km. is home to more than 22 million people. This deadly storm is one of the worst natural disasters to affect the Philippines in the last two decades. Heavy rain and strong winds led to catastrophic flooding and fatal landslides affecting more than 211,506 people, claiming 1,096 lives and leaving hundreds injured. 1,114 people are still missing. The hurricane flooded villages and coastal towns in the southern island of Mindanao, completely destroying 7,720 homes and partially damaging another 24,967 houses. In solidarity with the Washi Typhoon victims, the Qatar Red Crescent (QRC) in cooperation with the Doha Centre for Interfaith Dialogue and the Philippines Embassy launched the humanitarian campaign "From Qatar to the Philippines" to provide relief of all those who were affected by the Typhoon. The campaign aims to highlight the serious damage caused by the disaster in order to mobilize voluntary contributions in the form of cash and in-kind donations and to provide continued support to QRC’s disaster relief activities, which have been on-going since the beginning of the disaster. The campaign aims to engage the Qatari society and the various communities living in Qatar, especially the people of the Philippines. "As a prompt response to the disaster, Qatar Red Crescent has launched an urgent appeal in the hopes of raising 8,539,503QR for the Philippines. With the help of the Qatar community, Qatar Red Crescent can meet the needs of some 5,000 families who have been affected by Typhoon Washi,” said Mr. Saleh Al Mohannadi, Executive Director of the Qatar Red Crescent. “An amount of US$100,000 has already been allocated to support our urgent interventions to provide emergency relief in the Philippines and the Qatar Red Crescent has already sent teams to the field that are currently distributing food and non-food items and providing shelter, health care services and clean water to the victims. We will also send a special medical unit in cooperation with the Philippines Red Cross to continue providing life-saving medical care. We will do our best to make this campaign successful, assuring that those affected will receive the relief they need. ” added Al Mohannadi. Dr. Ibrahim Al-Naimi, chairman of the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) said: “The Doha Centre for Interfaith Dialogue seeks to be a role model in achieving peaceful coexistence between the followers of different religions. We see that the importance of this campaign lies in the need to emphasize the solidarity between followers of different religions, and responsibilities in contributing to overcome the problems that face humanity today. We are strongly convinced that such cases call for followers of all religions to progressively play an important and effective role in the service of humanity everywhere on the Earth. Strengthening the solidarity between religions is required these days, more than any time before, it is time for practical steps in order to save human societies," notes Al-Naimi. For his part, Mr. Crescente Relacion Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines to Qatar, expressed his appreciation for the humanitarian efforts led by the State of Qatar: "We are delighted at the Embassy of the Philippines to join this humanitarian campaign and offer all possible facilities for the success of this campaign, as we offer gratitude to the Qatar Red Crescent, which is providing relief services in the affected areas in cooperation with the Philippine National Red Cross. We are pleased to work with the Doha International Center for interfaith Dialogue, which was able in a short period to accomplish very important achievements." Mr. Relacion also stressed that since the disaster the Philippines Embassy in Doha has already begun working on collecting immediate priority items for the typhoon victims. This campaign aims to collect monetary and specific in-kind donations, which represent the most needed items identified by field reports received by the Philippine National Red Cross. Donations can be brought to the Qatar Red Crescent Headquarters. The campaign is supported heavily by the local Filipino community and QRC volunteers, who will do their best to collect donations and organise and transport them directly to the affected areas for distribution. For more information about this campaign, please visit the campaign page on the Qatar Red Crescent website www.qrcs.org.qa, as well as our Facebook account dedicated to the Washi victims. Or, contact Mr. Aiham Al Sukhni, QRC Disaster Preparedness Coordinator at Mob: 6658-8591, Email: [email protected]

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