University of Canterbury aid worker helping typhoon victims

University of Canterbury aid worker on the scene helping typhoon victims

December 9, 2014

A University of Canterbury international humanitarian aid worker is on the scene helping victims of Typhoon Hagupit which has swept across eastern Philippines, threatening many coastal areas.

More than 600,000 residents of low-lying villages and landslide-prone areas have fled to schools, civic centres, town halls, gyms and churches, the Philippines national disaster agency says.

Linda Cruse, the university’s senior fellow and entrepreneur in residence, is helping victims in Carles, a small area in the far north east of Iloilo Island.

“I have been here facilitating economic uplift since Typhoon Haiyan hit just over a year ago. It’s been all about adopting a hands up not hands out policy. It's about bringing economic vibrancy back to a community and then build back better than before.

“Typhoon Hagupit is hitting the village right now and I am here in the middle of it. With me nearby, is the Genevieve Corich, the daughter of former University of Canterbury graduate Katherine Corich who came with me to help before the typhoon hit. Genevieve is not in Carles. She was evacuated to a safe area In Iloilo city.

“The typhoon has pounded us for hours and hours of severe winds and rain blackouts. Food shortage is the first priority and today I am organising a truck of food with hygiene kits, water and baby milk as returning families are in desperate need of basic shelter, food and medical supplies.

“More than half a million people have fled from the typhoon in one of the world's biggest peacetime evacuations as the storm churns towards central provinces that still bear the scars of a super typhoon Haiyan 13 months ago, one of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall.”
Cruse has previously responded to other natural disasters in third world countries like the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

Cruse has also worked with Tibetan, Afghan, Burmese refugees and other challenged communities in the deserts of Uzbekistan, the jungle of the Amazon, and the mountain nomads in the Himalayas and Atlas mountains. Her work has been actively supported by Prince Charles, the Dalai Lama and Sir Richard Branson.

She has a reputation of facilitating a sustainable hand up in communities following a disaster with my main focus in livelihood recovery. Getting families back on their feet, independent again is something few aid agencies focus on.

Cruse will deliver an entrepreneurial course to University of Canterbury management students next year – called the 21-day challenge. More information will be available in the new year.

ENDS

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