Tapping the Power of Clutchfans: Typhoon Rebuilding

I am tapping the power of Clutchfans to help out with rebuilding after Typhoon Haiyan. In the Typhoon Haiyan thread I had mentioned that I was looking for local connections in the Philippines for rebuilding projects. At that time some of you had offered to donate but I wasn't in a position to take donations. I am now working with the the Filipino Association of Minnesota and Architecture for Humanity on Typhoon Haiyan relief and am putting together a trip to the affected area in mid December to do damage assessment and advance scouting for a rebuilding project.

If you would like to help out with this effort donations can be made to the Filipino Association of Minnesota which is a 501c3 organization so donations are tax deductible at:
http://www.fil-minnesotan.org/

I will keep Clutchfans updated through this thread about what I find out there and also what project(s) comes out of this.

FYI I don't keep track of donations made to the Filipino Association I so if you make a donation and would like to let me know you can email me at: sishir@c3designinc.com

Thanks for your help.

 

It looks like challenging other posters to bball duels is more interesting than disaster reconstruction. To shamelessly plug am getting ready to go to Tacloban, the city devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. I know some of you have helped my project and other recovery efforts in the Philippines which I thank you for. The need though is still great and if you Are thinking of doing some Christmas giving please consider donating to the organizations I list in the previous post.

I will post some updates and pics when I get back from the area.

 

That's what I hear and in about two hours will see for myself. I am in Manila waiting for my flight to Tacloban. Don't know what the Internet situation is there but will try to post when I can.

 

Just got back from the affected area and it is still very bad. Was mostly in Basey but also spent time in Tacloban and went along the coast to Guiaun. It is as bad as Katrina and made worse due to that people are still living in the rubble and the poverty that was there before the typhoon.

I wam still travelling but will post pics when I can and more info when I get back to the US in January.

I have an idea for a Clutchfans project that could benefit the people there. Basketball is huge in the Philippines and everywhere there were kids playing on actual courts to backboards nailed on coconut trunks. During the storm many community basket ball courts were heavily damaged especially the roofs of the covered ones. Because of the heat and the rain covered courts are very important for Barangays (neighborhoods) and also serve as community function spaces. I was thinking it would be great if Clutchfans could sponsor either the repair of an existing court or possibly a new court. The Clutchfans logo could then be painted on the court and the local Barangay team could be called the "Rockets" or even "Clutchfans."

I will be honest given the paltry response that this thread has gotten I am having my doubts if this can happen but I hope Clutchfans can prove me wrong.

I am also going to approach the Rockets and see if they are interested through the NBA Cares program and might try the T-wolves too.

 

For this trip. Not much as I was there to scout not bring aid. I met with the Basey town government and identified some of there greatest needs along with other areas for reconstruction. As you can imagine there is no shortage of things that need to be rebuilt.

The biggest area they need is new permanent housing and planning to relocate residents. The second is building back community facilities like hospitals, schools libraries (basketball courts). Another thing they wanted me to provide advice on is improving building codes and recommendations on storm resistant construction. That is going to be the toughest since have to take into account the availability of resources they have and enforcement.

As far as food and medicine they are doing ok. Thy are still relying on aid but markets are back up and running.

 

I am getting ready to go to China for the next week but will post pics when I get back.

 

FYI on the road. Parts of it are pretty badly damaged. You might not recognize some parts of your home due to storm damage.
Off behind the Great Firewall.

 

Sorry it's taken me awhile to get pics but have thousands of pics to sort through and am putting together a lot of material for briefings and for projects.

I have put together several pics for a presentation I am doing for some organizations and local media that have some of the best pics that I have of the typhoon area. Here is the link to that presentation in PDF.
http://c3homedesign.com/sishir/haiyan/PhilippinesTyphoonArea.pdf

This presentation is for introducing people to the area, the people and the culture. It is meant to show to people who know very little about the area that there is much more to this place than just that a major disaster struck this. It is based upon my impressions as someone who had never been to the Philippines and knew very little about the region prior to going there.

For those who don't want to see the whole presentation here are three pics. Spoilered for size.

Spoiler

Me reppin the Rox in Basey.

Spoiler

Sunset in Guiuan.

Spoiler

Kids washing themselves in Basey.

 

I wanted to address this. Yes there are millions of dollars donated but a lot of that money has already been spent on providing emergency medical, food and evacuation aid. Even when I was there several hospitals had been damaged and the Red Cross was still operating an emergency hospital out of tents in the damaged Basey community center. The food situation looked like it had stabilized when I was there but in the immediate aftermath many food supplies had been destroyed. Also when I was there wasn't any central power or plumbing so aid money was still going power generators and provide for drinking water. Many also were living in donated tents while the government had a program building bunkhouses (barracks). Many people were rebuilding huts out of debris or donated materials and even squatting in buildings that had been abandoned and in one case in a ship that had run aground in Tacloban. Bottom line is that there ares still some huge needs there.

Regarding corruption there is no doubt that the Philippines including this area is rife with corruption. Imelda Marcos came from Tacloban and you only have to see the Marcos palace there to see a monument to corruption. That is a big concern among aid groups and even the government is warning that corruption in the recovery need to be addressed. I can't say how it will be handled on the wider level but on what I am working on I am working with organizations that I know and with people directly on the ground. As such any projects that I deal with I will be able to monitor where the money goes and how it is spent better than if I was going through the Philippines government or even a large aid agency.

I don't want to discourage people donating to large aid agencies as in the immediate aftermath those are the only groups that have the resources to respond but smaller groups with very focused projects are much more accountable and have more control.

 

Also have some vids posted to YouTube.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pP0jNYG7qFU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/6rcMeZXhDIw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aVj1fm_lQdY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Thank you for your service Wakko. It's still pretty bad but it's not likely the next storm will be that bad. This is a typhoon prone region but Typhoon Haiyan was record breaking strong.

One thing I have been discussing with the people there is improving building codes and better planning. I am not sure how well they will be able to implement those things but if they can it should make a difference for future storms.