Tacloban

Typhoon Haiyan struck central Philippines in November 2013 and left thousands homeless and displaced. The city of Tacloban’s most pressing need was temporary and permanent shelter for 50,000 people whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed or rendered unsafe by the storm. With their own meagre resources, Scouts in Tacloban took action immediately following the storm, helping the most vulnerable families gather what was left of their lives, and helping relief agencies to distribute goods.

They helped clean out schools devastated by the storm surge, rallied school children when it was time to return to class, and led a campaign to help “normalise” the school setting for younger students traumatised by the disaster.

Their Scout peers outside the affected areas in Philippines gathered donations from the communities and sent these goods – mainly school equipment, books, pens and paper - to their fellow Scouts to distribute among the communities that had been worst hit.