On Friday, December 17, Super Typhoon Rai struck the archipelago, a stretch of water containing many islands, in The Philippines, resulting in over 300 people dead and hundreds of thousands more displaced. Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, is the strongest typhoon to strike the country this year and is equivalent to a Category 5 storm with winds up to 260 kilometers (160 miles) per hour. It made landfall Thursday on Siargao Island, a popular tourist destination on the central east coast, and traveled west across the Philippines, destroying homes and communities, causing widespread flooding, and tearing down trees and electricity poles. In particular:

• About 75% of homes in Bohol province in the Central Visayas region were damaged
• Several heavily populated areas were struck, including Leyte, the Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, and Cebu, a city of around 1 million people
• More than 30 transmission lines were down in the Visayas and Mindanao, two of the Philippines’s three major island groups and home to a combined population of over 45 million
• Roads and fields were flooded for miles in each direction after the heavy rain in Negros Occidental province in the Western Visayas region
• Over 50 people are still missing today
• Over 200 suffered “considerable injuries”
• The death toll is expected to rise due to search and rescue operations being hampered by power and communication outages.
• At least 227 cities and municipalities experienced power outages
• 27 flights were canceled
• Villagers were seen scrambling to salvage whatever they could from their damaged homes.
• Millions of people are still rebuilding their homes and livelihoods after several devastating storms late last year, so Typhoon Rai is only exacerbating their struggles
• The estimated overall cost of damage is more than $4.5 million/li>

How We’re Helping

When responding to disasters of any kind, we prioritize speed and efficiency, providing food, water, clothing, and financial resources to those impacted. That way, they don’t just survive, but rebuild their lives. So, please today to both help and provide hope for those devastated by Super Typhoon Rai.