Sailors’ Society launches emergency appeal to help seafarers and their families devastated by Cebu earthquake
When the powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Cebu, Philippines – a region already battered by a series of destructive typhoons just one week before – communities were left in chaos, and many families of Filipino seafarers lost everything.
Now global maritime charity Sailors’ Society has launched an emergency appeal to help bring food, clean water and desperately needed support to the seafarers and their families affected by this devastation.
Sailors’ Society CEO, Sara Baade, said: “We are receiving urgent requests every day from seafarers trying to reach their families back home. Many cannot get through. Others have received shattering news.”
Gavin Lim, Sailors’ Society Programme Manager, who is now in the Philippines, said: “One of the seafarers we support lost both a brother and a nephew in the quake. His wife and four children – one just four months old – are now struggling to survive in the rubble of their community. All they asked us for is food.
“Another seafarer called our 24/7 helpline from his vessel to say his wife and two siblings are at the epicentre of the quake and they are starving, living outside in the rain that is now bombarding the area.”
The Philippines is home to more than 229,000 seafarers, making up more than 25 per cent of the world’s maritime workforce – and many come from this very area.
Homes and businesses have been destroyed, and power is cut off. Families here already endure long separations from loved ones working at sea. Now, in the wake of this double disaster, they are fighting to survive.
Sara added: “We are hugely experienced in crisis response, and our trained chaplains are available 24/7 to offer support and bereavement counselling.
“Members of our Crisis Response Network are preparing to travel to the worst-hit areas as soon as it is safe. Roads are impassable and aftershocks continue, but we are committed to reaching those in desperate need.
“In the meantime, we are offering emergency grants. Just £30 can provide a family with food and clean water for a week and we can also provide trauma and bereavement counselling for survivors and seafarers thousands of miles from home.
“Please donate today. Help us bring hope, food and critical support to families who have lost everything.”
