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Philippines: Ministries Respond in Wake of Devastating Floods

  • Religion Today Religious persecution, missions, Christianity around the world
  • Updated Dec 07, 2012

Sixty people are reported dead and more than 2 million people have been affected after torrential rains and flooding crippled the Philippines last week, Mission Network News reports. Though the waters are receding, they are still chest-deep in some places, and Philippine officials say it is unsafe for residents to return home at this point. Floods are not uncommon during monsoon season, but residents say these floods are the worst they've seen in three years. "They're just not prepared for it," says Tim Glenn of Compassion International. "They don't have the drainage systems or the infrastructure to deal with it." Compassion, which works with 54,000 children in the Philippines and has several ministry projects in the Manila area, is taking steps to get affected families and ministries back on their feet. They have a disaster relief fund to meet families' needs with food, clothing and shelter, and are working alongside the Filipino church to spread the hope of the Gospel. "One of the beauties of our setup is that people will come back to the church for help and relief," Glenn said. "And that's where our kids are already. So this is a great opportunity for us to further our message of the Gospel, but also further our message of how important the kids are especially in God's eyes."