Philippines 2013

Humanitarian Aid to Philippines for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan

A strong Typhoon Haiyan (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda), the deadliest Philippine typhoon on record, caused catastrophic destruction in the Visayas, particularly in the islands of Samar and Leyte, killing 6,300 people. About 11 million people have been affected by the typhoon with many left homeless.

Kelab Putra 1 Malaysia responded to this disaster by sending a team of volunteers to provide humanitarian aid. The team comprised of medical volunteers, logistic personnel and the press. We left Subang Airport via a Charlie Transport plane from RMAF.

SP Care staff in this team were Dr. Prakash and MA. Mohan. When we operated our field clinic, we worked together with the other international medical teams, eg. Australia, US, Germany etc. When we arrived in Leyte, we set camp around the airport perimeter. Here we conducted our makeshift clinics as requested by the Filipino authorities.

Dr. Prakash was involved in carrying out a below knee amputation on a 5 year old boy and he was assisted by MA. Mohan. Our team was also involved to standby for the hospital because the doctors there wanted to take a break. As they had been on duty, we divided into 2 sub teams taking turns every 12 hours. It was a great experience as we had to manage with very little resources, live under basic conditions in tents and with also no comfort. Here we also saw the resilience of the Filipino people who were very strong.