Tag Archives: disaster response

Disaster Response: Phase #1

Basic Disaster Response Crisis Care training will be held at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary on Wednesday Nov 13 and Thursday Nov 14, from 6pm – 8pm. The training will be led by Bukal Life Care. We are focusing on those who will be traveling to the Visayas for relief work in the next few days, but others are welcome to join.

Crisis Care with focus on Children will be held during the week of Nov 18, also at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary. This training will also be led by Bukal Life Care. Exact times to be determined. Again, focus is on DR team preparing to leave, but others are welcome.

Please keep those in the typhoon destruction zone in your prayers. But also remember the relief workers who voluntarily place themselves in a difficult position. Two or three members of our team at Bukal Life Care are joining the trip… and more will most likely join subsequent trips.

Crisis Response Trip to Northern Benguet

 

Four members of our team joined members of Benguet State University (led by Professor Marcy Bolona) and the Student Hub, to assist in Crisis Response and Stress Mitigation in Buguias, Benguet. Members of our team at Bukal were Celia, Jehny, Becky, and Serafina. They left early Saturday (June 13, 2013) morning for the 2.5 hour drive along the mountainous Halsema Highway to Abatan. From there, they took a jeepney for another hour of dirt road driving to Buguias.

Our team was invited by the Catholic church in Buguias in response to the month anniversary of a disaster that occurred there. After brunch, crisis care began, working with approximately 100 adults, youth, and children… relatives and friends of those directly impacted by the disaster. The group was broken up into smaller groups based on relationship and age. For the adults, we used the NOVA (National Organization of Victim Assistance) model for stress mitigation. For children, other methods, including artwork, were used to allow for sharing/ventilating of feelings.

We believe that the event was a great time of sharing, grieving, and healing. Some members of the team had to leave late in the day while others stayed overnight, being well taken care of by our hosts. In the morning, on Sunday, after a swim in the hotsprings and breakfast, the team began its return trek to La Trinidad and Baguio City.

It was a great joy to serve in the beautiful community of Buguias surrounded on all sides by the great mountains of the Cordilleras. Our hosts were almost too kind. We greatly appreciate their hospitality feel honored to help their community in some small way.

This trip reminded us of the importance of crisis care, especially as it pertains to community disasters. We will be planning a training session for those interested in some of the methods involved in this type of ministry.

Return to Cagayan de Oro

Our Disaster Response Crisis Intervention Team returned to Cagayan de Oro for training and crisis intervention. The team will start work with the Department of Education, as well as at some of the evacuation centers.

It may be worth explaining what we do. We are a religious organization and so some might assume that we focus on evangelism. That is not the case. When someone has gone through a major crisis, they should not make major decision, and should not be encouraged to. They need to be taken to a place of safety and security (physically, emotionally, and mentally). They need to be given a chance for ventilation and validation. They need a chance to plan and prepare for the future… to find a new normal.

We use NOVA (National Organization for Victim Assistance) for group intervention. We use Crisis Care Chaplaincy by the Southern Baptist Convention for training of chaplains, as well as Psychological First Aid by NCCTS (and others).

Day Three Disaster Response in Cagayan de Oro

Pictures of some of the stress debriefing/disaster response of our team in Cagayan de Oro can be seen at:

Cagayan de Oro Evac Centers

Bukal Life Disaster Response Team with former Senator Dick Gordon, Chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross

 

Supertyphoon Juan (Megi)

Supertyphoon Juan (Megi) is bearing down on Northern Luzon Island. It is taking a path across Isabela Province and then across the Cordilleran mountain range. These same areas were devastated by Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) last October. It is a fast moving storm and, prayerfully, it will pass by too fast for great destruction. However, many people still feel the hurts of the losses from Pepeng.

Please keep people in these areas in your prayers. To keep updated on this storm, pleas look at http://www.typhoon2000.ph/