What are the odds that the two cities I call home on two sides of the world were to get hit by unusually large natural disasters in the same week?

 

I am Filipino born, brought up on Cebu Island, and now living in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Our city here in the U.S. was hit by multiple EF3 tornadoes on Saturday, December 11th.

 

Then, on Thursday, December 16th, a Category 5 typhoon, Super Typhoon Rai, hit several regions in the southeast Philippines and led to the evacuation of more than 100,000 people. The neighborhoods of my childhood, Lapu Lapu City and Talisay City, were particularly hard hit.

 

My parents' home, my siblings’ homes, and the homes of so many of my extended family and friends who all live in the neighborhood were all significantly damaged, and many of them completely destroyed. While we are there to support my parents and family rebuild, the many in the neighborhood don't have anyone to support them. The people in these neighborhoods don’t have easy access to homeowners insurance, and the government’s resources and manpower to help these devastated communities are limited.

 

Many of the people in these neighborhoods live on less than $500 a month in U.S. currency terms and don’t have the resources to repair damaged homes, much less rebuild homes that were completely destroyed. The whole area is flooded, and many don’t have what they need to navigate their daily life at the moment.

 

This is where I grew up. When the news hit, I wanted to immediately fly there to help, only to realize that the airport in the area had been damaged by the typhoon and not in operation at the moment. So I’m putting my efforts into trying to gather resources that I can send there, to help people in these neighborhoods as they rebuild.

 

Even a little bit of money in U.S. terms can go a long way in these neighborhood. They need tarps, boards, roofing supplies, and money to meet basic necessities like food and clean water as they rebuild.

 

Here in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where I live now, I have seen such an outpouring of support and resources to help communities hit by tornadoes this past week. The people in the neighborhoods I’m from in Lapu Lapu City and Tailsay City don’t have access to the same sort of resources we have here. I appreciate anything you might be able to do to help these towns.