Help us to rebuild or repair the family homes of our colleagues from the Philippines.

On October 31, Super Typhoon Goni, an extremely powerful Category 5 equivalent hurricane, made landfall on Catanduanes in the Philippines. It was the strongest land falling tropical cyclone on record, with 10-minute sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph) and 1-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph).

Super Typhoon Goni is the strongest tropical cyclone observed worldwide thus far in 2020.

10 days later, Typhoon Ulysses, a Category 2 equivalent hurricane, made landfall at Patnanungan, Quezon, then continued moving westward, making a second landfall in Luzon. The impact of Typhoon Ulysses in central Luzon was particularly damaging because it affected the same 1.6 million people originally impacted by Super Typhoon Goni. Ulysses brought heavy rains in Central Luzon, and the nearby provinces, including metro Manila, the national capital. Heavy rains caused by the typhoon overflowed rivers and caused severe flooding.

Super Typhoon Goni and Typhoon Ulysses have destroyed or badly damaged the homes of seven (7) of our Filipino colleagues. For now, their families are living in makeshift accommodation or with relatives. Insurance is not common in the Philippines, so the cost of rebuilding or repairing houses is borne by the people involved.

Our Filipino colleagues are a long way from home and are unable to physically support their families during this extremely difficult time. Even without COVID-19, getting home would be very difficult.

We thought we would help our colleagues - Fred from Tongariro, Guillermo from Mount Eden, Elesio from Spring Hill, Shalde from Northern, Rolando from Invercargill and Jason & Alvin from Hawkes Bay - by raising some money to be shared amongst them to send to their families in the Philippines to help rebuild or repair their family homes.