Super Typhoon Rai (Odette)

Based on all of the work that has gone into the assessment, the plan is to conduct partial and full boat repairs of boats damaged by Typhoon Odette, utilizing community volunteers.  A small AHAH team (including primarily local staff) will coordinate the purchasing and delivery of necessary tools and materials, organize the work queue based on the assessments currently underway, coordinate the volunteers to work under the “bayanihan” model (community members working together), and simultaneously work with partners to identify additional capacity building opportunities in the communities.  The program is approved for three months, though we are managing expectations within the community to provide flexibility based on several unknowns in the new model.

Upon arrival, the team quickly began meeting with organizations that were working in the area. After a few days, the team has identified the island of Palawan and specifically the island municipalities of Dumaran and Araceli as the first areas for a more in-depth assessment. DART will be mobilizing to the island starting tomorrow.

Stay up to date with our DART in the Philippines by following our Storm Tracker.

Due to the widespread impact and severity of Super Typhoon Rai (Odette), All Hands and Hearts sent a team to the Philippines to assess the needs in the affected communities. Our international team members traveled to the Philippines on February 17th and 18th and all arrived safely in Manila by early Saturday local time, on February 19th.

Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, made its first of nine landfalls on December 16, 2021, in the Central-Southern Philippines causing severe rainfall, flooding, and mudslides.  Rapidly intensifying over a 24 hour period, It had maximum sustained winds of 195 KM/hr and was the strongest storm of 2021 to affect the Philippines. Travel restrictions prevented All Hands and Hearts from sending an assessment team, but AHAH stayed ready to assist as soon as possible. The Philippines’ borders were closed until February 10, 2022, at which point it opened to foreign nationals. The islands are starting to see the return of tourism and foreign travel, including various aid partners being able to enter the country for the first time. All Hands and Hearts also took advantage of this opportunity and mobilized the international DART to conduct a needs assessment.

The typhoon made 9 landfalls in 7 provinces from the 16th to 17th of December with populations totaling over 8 million people. The death count right now is 146 people and growing. This is considered the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year and a call has been put out for aid. According to ReliefWeb, 400,000 people are in need of immediate and long term support. Assessments and local damage reports are still being conducted and shared.

Typhoon Rai quickly developed into a super typhoon, the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane, and made landfall in Siargao, Philippines. There is already a high humanitarian impact as tens of thousands have already been evacuated from central and southern coastal areas. Unable to deploy a team at this time, All Hands and Hearts is remotely monitoring the impacts of Super Typhoon Rai.