SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) yesterday deployed its humanitarian vessel M/V Amazing Grace to the island province of Catanduanes to provide badly needed relief and assistance to survivors of Typhoon Rolly (international name Goni).
Senator Richard Gordon, who is also PRC chairman, sent off the Red Cross relief mission after visiting affected families in Catanduanes on Nov. 3 and leading the distribution of relief supplies in San Andres, a third-class municipality badly-hit by the typhoon.
Authorities said some 15,000 families in the province were displaced by the super typhoon and about 10,000 small houses along the coasts were “totally washed out”, even as roads in the 11 municipalities were rendered impassable due to flooding and typhoon debris.
“The Philippine Red Cross has always been about alleviating human suffering, bringing them essentials to victims, and not only that – bringing them hope,” Gordon said in a short send-off ceremony Wednesday afternoon at the Boton Wharf here.
“The MV Amazing Grace delivers to Catanduanes the message that there is deliverance from despair through the mercy of God and through the thousands of people who are with the survivors of Typhoon Rolly. We are in this together,” Gordon added.
Gordon said this was the first humanitarian deployment for MV Amazing Grace, which the Red Cross commissioned as a humanitarian vessel in May 2017.
Red Cross officials said the 195-foot vessel is loaded with non-food items like hygiene kits, blankets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, water containers, galvanized iron sheets for roofing, and kitchen sets.
It also carried a minivan and a Willy’s type jeep to be used in monitoring the situation, as well as delivering services, in hard-to-access areas.
Gordon said the Red Cross will continue to help residents of Catanduanes “until they are fully recovered and stable again.”
“The Red Cross is not only here to give food and emergency aid, but most importantly, to help the people restore their dignity and get their lives back on track,” Gordon vowed.
The Philippine Red Cross has deployed teams to the Bicol Region after Typhoon Rolly caused massive destruction there on Nov. 1.
When Typhoon Ulysses (international name Vamco) hit the country just a few days after Typhoon Rolly exited the country, the organization also sent additional teams to Catanduanes to conduct rescue and relief operations.
Gordon said that the PRC determined to acquire its own vessel after its experience with Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, when its team experienced difficulty in delivering goods by land and by air.
MV Amazing Grace, which is home-ported here in the Subic Bay Freeport, has the capacity to carry 20 ambulances or six trucks loaded with cargo, navigate in extremely choppy seas, and operate as a barge to ferry goods, people, equipment and vehicles to the affected areas.
Image credits: Henry Empeño