Climate action urged as church aid flows

As the international relief effort struggles to come to terms with the devastation wreaked by Typhoon Haiyan on the Philippines on 8 November, the Church in the majority-Catholic country, and its Caritas aid arm, is playing a central part.

“The Church is a beacon among the broken ruins,” said a priest in the Leyte Island city of Tacloban, most of which was reduced to rubble. “People see priests and the Caritas volunteers distributing food and water, giving us courage and hope,” said Fr Alex Opiniano from the Tacloban parish of Santino.

Around 6,500 Caritas shelter kits – tents and tarpaulins – have arrived on Leyte, with 30,000 more on the way. This week a Caritas team, led by Caritas Philippines director Fr Edwin Gariguez, visited a seminary turned into an evacuation centre where volunteers are helping more than 500 survivors.

“We are reaching families across Samar, Leyte, Iloilo and Palawan with food, water, tents and household items such as pots and pans,” reported Fr Anton Pascual, a Caritas team leader. “Transport and communications are our worst problems.” He added that “there have been reports of looting of aid on some roads, making it difficult to reach the most remote villages, but we wear our priest collars and we are able to go through”.

In the capital, Manila, hundreds of church volunteers have worked in shifts to fill thousands of food packs. Each pack should last a family of five on Leyte Island for three days.

During the UN Climate Change talks in Warsaw, scheduled to close yesterday [22 November], Yeb Saño, head of the Philippines delegation, fasted throughout the two weeks, urging significant action in the UN climate negotiations. More than half of the population of the Philippines live in disaster-prone areas.

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila called a day of prayer and fasting last Saturday in solidarity with victims. He thanked Pope Francis and the international community “for remembering us and trying their best to reach out”. At least 5,000 people were killed or are missing, and more than 13 million affected, with at least 1.9 million in evacuation centres.

Earlier this week Fr Shay Cullen, an Irish Columbian missionary in the Philippines, warned that children orphaned by Typhoon Haiyan risk falling victim to human trafficking, and called for protective measures.