On December 16, 2011, Severe Tropical Storm Sendong (Washi) brought torrential rains for ten hours over Northern Mindanao in the Philippines triggering massive floods and landslides. The storm washed away entire villages, killed hundreds of people, destroyed agricultural crops, ruined hundreds of houses, and damaged several schools, roads and bridges.
“Flood waters rose by 11 feet in less than an hour, catching people by surprise,” one local official reported. “Flash floods washed away entire houses with families inside.”
ASM sent $2,000 assistance to some victims through the South Philippine Union Conference (SPUC) whose headquarters is located in Cagayan de Oro City, one of the cities directly hit by the wrath of the storm.
“Hundreds of families are struggling to recover from the aftermath of that devastating storm,” said Pastor Edwin Gulfan, the SPUC Executive Secretary, in his personal letter to ASM. “We have been able to address some of the emergency needs of the victims because of the support we received from people like you.
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Sixty seven (67) families in seven (7) severely affected villages in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were given PhP1,500 each for their emergency needs.
“Life has never been the same again for these people in crisis, but this expression of goodness has introduced new strength of mind and heart weakened by Sendong,” stated by the officers of SPUC headed by its president Elder Leonardo Asoy.