Dear Friends and magnanimous supporters in our humanitarian works in Mindanao, Philippines!

Warm greetings!

Eighteen (18) Tropical Typhoons had visited the Philippines in 2022, of which five (5) had made landfalls. Three (3) of those five had severely hit Mindanao: Typhoon Agaton (Megi) last April 2022, Typhoon Karding (Noru) on September 21 to October 1, 2022 and Typhoon Paeng (Nalgae) October 28-29, 2022 [1].

Those typhoons had caused severe damage to agriculture and the peoples’ lives because of widespread landslides brought about by continuous heavy rains. In between these typhoons, severe flooding had occurred in many parts in the country, specifically Mindanao. These catastrophes had been the result of shear line [2] induced rains - new phenomenon in the Philippines weather condition, which affected many parts of Mindanao including those, which had been flooded before.

The impacts of climate change unveiled its worst manifestations that poorer communities in Mindanao have suffered the most. In Mindanao, 382,000 individuals were displaced due to natural hazards and armed conflicts. Of which number, 265,000 have returned home while 117,000 are still in evacuation centers and temporary shelters. This data has been added to the 98,000 individuals who have experienced protracted displacement since 2013. MIHANDs and its members’ organizations have conducted Solidarity Missions and have been able to reached 1,174 families (3,140 individuals) mostly displaced by Typhoon Paeng (Nalgae) and Shear line in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and Cotabato City. Solidarity missions have been extended to Lanao del Norte and Misamis Occidental to help survivors of Shear line weather phenomenon.

MIHANDs services during Solidarity Mission include distribution of food packs and warm food, hygiene kits and clothing, mental health and psycho-social support sessions and alternative health through ear acupuncture detox, massage and skills transfer in the production of herbal ointment and liniment distributed in evacuation centers and typhoon affected homebased survivors.

MIHANDs network together with leader/s of Typhoon Sendong of 2013 (Iligan Survivors Movement) from Iligan City shared their experiences of self-organization to the Typhoon Paeng survivors of Cotabato-Maguindanao leading to the formation of their own organization called the Paeng Survivors Movement (PSM). The PSM is now strengthening its ranks in preparation for lobbying of issues and rights-claiming campaigns.

These mitigation actions have been made part of our campaign to build up ecological socialist countries through introduction of sustainable framework of development e.i. massive sustainable agriculture in many parts of Mindanao, together with our campaign against land use conversion, anti-mining and anti-logging.

Because of these, we would like to wholeheartedly thank our friends from Europe Solidaire Sans Frontier (ESSF) and to everyone who contributed through financial donations (€19,500), their expertise and voluntary service that help MIHANDS in 2022 and through the years.

Our partnership has provided opportunities to poor communities not just to survive the impact of natural disasters and complex emergencies but also the self-organization and mobilizations of the disasters survivors for their rights-claiming activities. And for this, MIHANDS and our partner communities in Mindanao, Philippines are forever grateful of your support.

Stay safe and more power you all!

February 4, 2023

Sincerely yours,

Yennah Torres
Chairperson
MiHANDs, Inc

Multi-stakeholders Initiatives for Humanitarian Action against Disasters (MiHands)
Website: www.mihands.org