Template:Humanitarian Aid Updates
Mormons Begin Humanitarian Aid to the Philippines After Typhoon Haiyan
Mormons believe in preparedness, and LDS leaders prepared Mormon missionaries serving in the Philippines with 72-hour emergency kits, and evacuated many missionaries to safer areas before the storm struck.
Mormons are able to mobilize very quickly after natural disasters. Congregations are organized by location, and all have the same line of authority. The structure enables leaders to account for individuals under their care, and enables individuals to get word up the line of authority. Members are counseled to store food and prepare emergency kits, as well as to establish patterns of evacuation and communication within families in case of emergencies. After the disaster, the Church goes through the local hierarchy to assess needs and get aid in quickly.
Typhoon Haiyan was more powerful than hurricane Katrina, and may have killed over 5,000 people and left a million homeless. It was so large that it would have covered nearly the entire area of the continental U.S. Immediately, Church leaders in Salt Lake City were in continual contact with regional Church leaders in the Philippines. Within a very short time, the Church was providing shelter, food, water and other basic supplies to evacuees and displaced families. [1]
More than 14,000 members and others have sought refuge in 200 Church meetinghouses.
Missionaries were evacuated to higher ground as Haiyan approached, and all missionaries equipped themselves with 72-hour emergency kits. Even so, some missionaries had to rely on prayer and the help of God to get to safety. [2] All Mormon missionaries were accounted for, and those stranded in stricken areas were flown to Manilla. Thereafter, many were mobilized to help. Following the repackaging of rice, the missionaries along with Filipino soldiers distributed goods in Tacloban to those in great need.
In Utah, former Mormon missionaries to the Philippines organized to collect donations to send back to the country in which they served, and a Moslem benefactor matched up to $100,000 in donations made to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to provide aid. The Islamic Society of Greater Salt Lake City regularly partners with the LDS Church on other humanitarian issues. [3]
Updates are available at LDS Newsroom. Donations for LDS Church relief efforts can be made at LDS Emergency Response.