Typhoon Washi, which struck Mindanao in the Philippines over the weekend, has caused widespread devastation across the region. With nearly 1000 people officially dead and many more missing, the consequences for people and animals in the area are dire.
The flash flooding took the region by surprise, striking the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro at night. Although the Philippines experiences several tropical storms every year, Mindanao in the south is often left unaffected, meaning the area was not as well prepared to cope with a typhoon of this scale.
NFA works actively in Mindanao on the horse fighting campaign and have mobilised a team led by our vet, Dino, to head to the worst hit areas to provide aid for animals. The main focus of this type of disaster relief work is providing emergency food for animals displaced by the floods. In addition to food, contamination of water supplies is a huge problem, so the distribution of safe, clean water is a priority. The team will also provide emergency vet care to injured animals, rescue those that have been trapped by the flood waters and assess and react to additional problems on location.
The nature of disaster relief work is unpredictable, precarious and expensive. Our team will be working long hours in dangerous conditions to provide care for affected animals and we need your help. If you can spare funds for our emergency flood appeal, we can equip our team with food, veterinary supplies and relief equipment in order to help as many animals as possible. See our blog to follow the work of Dino's disaster relief team.
Our thoughts are with all the aid workers battling tirelessly in Mindanao to bring people and animals to safety.
