Hands On Disaster Response is now All Hands Volunteers

It is a go! Hands On would like volunteers to join us in the Bicol region of the Philippines for “Project Santo Domingo”.

We plan to be based in the municipality of Santo Domingo, Albay Province, in southern Luzon. The area, known for receiving numerous typhoons each season, was hard hit by supertyphoon Reming during the daylight hours of 30 November, 2006.

Reming was exceptional though and triggered other cataclysmic events. The winds blew apart homes and tore off roofs. The heavy rainfall caused flooding and triggered lahar flows that obliterated entire communities and buried others. This combination of events created damage that is beyond the scope of the country to deal with without international help. The need is great and the response has been small.

With homes, schools, infrastructure, and livelihoods affected we feel that our organization, with your willingness to volunteer or donate, can help.

We are still in the process of lining up projects and securing a facility for volunteer housing, but would like you to initiate your plans to come and join us.

Please visit our website (www.hodr.org) and read the most recent reports. You will also find a work-in-progress list of FAQs. If you still have questions please email Mr. Tom at info@hodr.org

Thank you! And see you here!

Marc Young
Operations Director
Hands On Disaster Response
Project Santo Domingo

Our first photos from the Philippines are up! You can view them online here.

Also, please take a moment to read Marc’s full first report here.

“Thank you, come again. This is a beautiful place.”

Quote attributed to the man above who was in a hole over his head that he had shoveled out. The sides of the hole were actually the walls of his wood frame house supported on the outside by 2+ meters of volcanic ash (lahar). He had removed the roof and was probing for his buried possessions (imagine an archaeological excavation site). We were surrounded by a desert of black and gray lahar and scattered boulders, accented by wind ravaged coconut trees, crystal clear blue skies, and the looming volcano Mayon. Considering what he said, we laughed…….and cried.

(more…)

Marc has had some productive meetings with our sister organization Hands On Manila. He is now planning on scouting locations to find the best place for HODR to begin working as effectively as possible. We expect to have an update online from Manila in the next few days.

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Marc has just arrived in Manila and is beginning to make connections and find a good place for HODR to set-up up a volunteer center. Communication systems in the area are still having some major problems, but we’ll keep the site updated as we learn more.