Philippines Typhoon relief, first hand

Winnie Romeril in Palo. Leyte in the Philippines

There's a lot of people I'm proud to have gotten to know during my three-plus years with the American Red Cross. One of the best is Winnie Romeril. In addition to serving as the NYS Disaster Public Affairs Lead, Winnie travels all over the world to work on International Red Cross relief efforts. I first got to know Winnie as she shared the story of her time helping earthquake victims in Haiti in 2010. Now, she's oversees again, this time helping victims of Typhoon Haiyan as part of the ongoing Red Cross relief efforts.

Below is Winnie's first hand report, shared on her Facebook page, of her first days helping the people devastated by last November's storm. We will continue to keep you posted on the work Winnie and her fellow Red Cross volunteers are able to do, thanks to your support. And Winnie, thanks for all that you do, and stay safe!!
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Impressions at 4 a.m. Entering Day Two

I can’t sleep. My mind is filled with vivid images from yesterday. 

From Winnie Romeril:"Typhoon-damaged building on the east coast 
of the Island of Leyte."

We drive through miles of lush green rice paddies punctuated by graceful white herons. Occasionally we see people working the fields, cows finding shade under storm-felled coconut trees, the brightly-colored Philippine flag twisting in the hot, humid breeze. It looks deceptively refreshing. It is not. The heat here is impressive. We stand in the sun for hours with the Philippine Red Cross volunteers organizing and carrying out the relief distributions. I sweat off my sunscreen in minutes. Reapplying it is futile. I feel very far away indeed from my snowy home 13 time zones away.  

The smiling chorus of “Thank you, mam’! Thank you for helping us!” evaporates my petty discomfort. 

The full relief package is too much for one person to carry, especially for the elderly and pregnant women. So village men join the Red Cross volunteers ushering their neighbors through the line with their arms full of mats, mosquito nets, tarps, boxes and bags of food, and other relief supplies. When everyone has received their goods, the men get their turn.

From Winnie Romeril: "Relief supplies are precariously
piled up on this bicycle taxi. Volunteers form the community
help the elderly, pregnant women and other vulnerable people
get the relief supplies to their homes."

Relief distributions need lots of space— for people to assemble, trucks to line up, and for survivors to gather up their supplies. Every barangay (town) has one perfect space for this. THE singular most important outdoor meeting space in every village is… (drum roll, please)… the basketball court. I had no idea Philippinos love basketball so much! 

Last November’s Typhoon Haiyan, known here in the Philippines as Yolanda, was the strongest storm in history to make landfall. The basketball courts, being flat and made of cement, weathered the torrential rains and devastating winds better than any other structure. 

Many inland villages were 70-95% destroyed by the typhoon. Survivors tell stories of their houses being swept away by raging rivers or blown away by the gale-force winds. The more highly populated costal cities were served first. It’s disaster triage. Care for the highest number of survivors in the quickest way possible. 

From Winnie Romeril: "As in other recent disasters,
like Haiti, The Red Cross decided not to place our logo
on the emergency shelter tarps handed out in the immediate
aftermath of the storm. The light grey tarps with dark
grey stripes are from us. Survivors form previous disasters,
such as the 2004 tsunami, complained that it was
undignified to have our logo on their home. Sworn to uphold
dignity, we have decided as a global Red Cross movement
to no longer label our tarps. In Haiti, all sorts of reporters
and congress people said they didn't see the Red Cross
relief anywhere as they posed for interviews
with thousands of our tarps as their backdrop."

Locals are making notable progress nearly three months on. Here and there alongside the rice paddies we see newly framed out structures of freshly milled coconut wood- not normally a common construction material since the wood is soft. However with 33 million coconut trees damaged or destroyed, people are using what they have available. It will take years to fully recover, but today they got a boost to help them along the way.

The Story Behind the Video

“I don’t know where we would be without the Red Cross stepping in to help.”

Jessi Evans, her four children and their father Cliff have been living in a hotel provided by Red Cross volunteers and supporters since their Middleport, NY apartment building was destroyed by fire two days ago. The story of how Evans and the children survived is getting a lot of attention, largely thanks to a video shot by one of the many people who came together to rescue them.

“Cliff and I watched the video last night, it took us two tries to get through it,” Evans said. “We saw how everyone came together to help.”

Evans and the children, all under the age of seven, were in a bedroom when Jessi’s sister noticed smoke. They called 911, grabbed the kids and went to a window. “

My sister kicked out the window and we started screaming for help,” Evans said. Middleport police and fire officials rushed to the back of the home, where Evans and her sister started passing children to them through the window. Evans actually went back into the home to try to rescue her pets before being forced onto a rooftop.

Jessi Evans, her children Hayden, Bryson, Connor and
Taylor with their father Cliff

“I had to think that if I went back to get the animals, my kids might not have their mother,” Evans said. A volunteer firefighter from a nearby district, who shot the video, happened on the scene, grabbed a ladder from a neighboring apartment building and helped Middleport officials safely get Evans and her sister down before the building was destroyed. Evans, her sister and the kids were taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation, but would be okay.

“I started screaming for my family,” said Cliff, who was at work when the fire started. “My family is my life, the reason I get up and go to work every day. Thank you for helping them.”

“I was informed at the hospital that the Red Cross could help, and that’s where I met with Mike,” Evans said of Disaster Action Team volunteer Mike Hoplight. “The extended stay at the hotel has helped a lot. Otherwise we might have stayed with family, but probably would’ve been separated because of space.” The Red Cross has also provided the family with vouchers for food, clothing and baby supplies such as diapers, and Hoplight and other caseworkers continue to meet with the family to help them get back on their feet.

“The support from the community has been tremendous,” Evans said. “I wish I could thank everyone individually.”

Evans, Cliff and the children are just six of the over 50 Erie and Niagara County residents receiving Red Cross assistance after nine separate fires over the past four days. We can only help these neighbors in need thanks to your support. Please consider making a donation to the Disaster Relief Fund by calling 1-800-REDCROSS, visiting www.redcross.org, or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to charge a $10 donation to your phone bill. And we’d love to have you as a volunteer as well.

Sorry, Jimmy Griffin!

Volunteers Pete Peterson and Mary Walker at a shelter
in Southwestern New York

During the Blizzard of 1985, former Buffalo Mayor Jimmy Griffin said, "Stay inside, grab a six-pack and watch a good football game." Unfortunately, during the "Polar Vortex" of 2014, our staff and volunteers from across the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions haven't exactly had time to do that.

In Rochester, we opened nine shelters as part of the City's "Heat Sweep" program. Working in the 50 Prince Street office, it was amazing to see how quickly the volunteers came together to honor this request from City Hall to help our neighbors in need. On the western end of our region, staff and volunteers opened shelters in Ripley and Irving to help travelers stranded by Thruway and other road closures come in out of the cold. Over 70 people spend Monday night at Red Cross shelters, and warming stations were also opened in Wellsville and Cuba.

Of course, our response to this winter weather didn't end with sheltering. In Rochester, a reporter called me about an international family stranded at the airport by flight diversions and cancellations until Friday. Our emergency services team worked with the airline to ensure this story had a happy ending.

Coffee and water ready for residents at Gantt Center shelter
in Rochester (courtesy of Wegmans)

And much like the post office, neither snow nor bitter cold can stop our volunteers from helping those in need after a fire. We provided assistance including Disaster Mental Health services to three survivors of a fire in Niagara Falls, helped 11 people after an Orchard Park apartment fire, and 11 people--including some who were apparently part of a heroic rescue effort by first responders--in Middleport. Whether or not our bitter cold weather was a factor in these incidents, the Western New York and Finger Lakes Regions have responded to 10 fires since Monday, helping over 50 people who lost everything in the blink of an eye.

We are only able to provide this vital service to the community because of your support, so THANK YOU to all or our supporters, and of course the volunteers who braved the elements to help our neighbors in need this week. And don't worry, we're still ready to respond if necessary after the upcoming flood watch as well!

Resolve to Volunteer!

What I believe to be my only
"selfie" of 2013. Taken while
enjoying the Bills bye week.

So earlier on this New Year's Eve, a reporter friend of mine Tweeted, half jokingly (I think), "Here's an idea; for every selfie you took in 2013, volunteer that many hours in 2014." Personally, I'm not a big fan of the whole "selfie" thing, but for some people, that would leave them volunteering pretty much 24/7 in 2014!

The good news is that we have plenty of volunteer opportunities here at the American Red Cross, and some of them can take as little time as it takes post a "selfie". We always talk about the volunteers who deploy across the country in times of major disasters, or our Disaster Action Team volunteers who respond to the scene of a fire in the middle of night. But even if you don't have the time or desire to join them, you can still help the Red Cross in ways you may not have even thought of! Whether it's welcoming our clients at the front desk, initiating emergency communications with a member of our military, or even telling the Red Cross story on social media, volunteers are the lifeblood of this organization, and we have an opportunity for everyone.

So even if you didn't know what the word "selfie" meant before reading this blog, resolving to volunteer is a great way to give back to the community in 2014. And on behalf of everyone at the American Red Cross, we want to thank all of our volunteers, staff and supporters for everything you've done in 2013, and we look forward to an even better 2014!!