On the morning of June 8, 2026, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck offshore Sarangani in the southern Philippines. The coastal towns of Maasim and Kiamba, along with General Santos City and Glan were among the hardest hit. Tsunami waves reached their shores, hundreds of homes were destroyed, and tens of thousands of families have been displaced or affected across the province.

Days later, the ground still hasn't settled. More than 2,000 aftershocks have followed the main quake, many of them magnitude 5 and 6, strong enough to feel like the earthquake all over again. Families are sleeping in short, broken stretches, jolted awake again and again. The exhaustion and fear are real, and people are carrying on simply because they have no other choice. As one person on the ground put it: we don't have a choice but to survive.

When a disaster like this hits, one of the first things people lose is access to clean drinking water. Pipes break, wells are contaminated, and the heat makes dehydration a real and immediate danger. Families who have already lost their homes should not also have to wonder where their next safe drink of water will come from.

That is what this fundraiser is for.

Every ₱150 (about US$2.50) provides one pail of purified drinking water (19 liters / 5 gallons) to one affected family. A local supplier is providing water at a charity rate so that donations stretch as far as possible. If we raise more than the cost of water, the surplus will go toward basic medicines such as fever and headache relief, which families urgently need given the stress and the constant aftershocks.

Why I'm running this

Several of my colleagues live in the affected area, and when we tried to figure out how to send help, we ran into a wall: GoFundMe isn't available in the Philippines, and getting money into the country quickly and safely is genuinely tricky. So I'm taking personal responsibility for getting these funds where they need to go. I'm running this page, and I'll transfer the money raised directly to the people coordinating relief on the ground.

How it works

This drive is organized on the ground by my colleague Laila Lasmarias at Editorialist, who lives in the region and is coordinating directly with a local water supplier and volunteers. I (Haje) am running this GoFundMe on her behalf and will transfer the funds raised to Laila so she can purchase and distribute water and supplies locally.

Distribution is handled by volunteers on the ground.

Where your donation goes

₱150 / ~$2.50 → 1 pail of clean water (19 L) for 1 family

Surplus → basic medicines (fever, headache) for families affected by aftershocks

Our goal: reach 1,000 families with clean water

Transparency

We are committed to full transparency. As donations are converted into water and supplies, we will post updates here with photos and a running count of how many families have been reached. No amount is too small. If you are not able to donate, sharing this page genuinely helps.

Thank you for your kindness, your prayers, and your support. Together we can make sure that families who have lost so much do not also lose access to clean, safe water.