Church to embark on 5-year rehab work for Yolanda survivors

MANILA, Philippines - The Catholic Church, through its social action arm, Caritas Manila, will be embarking on a five-year recovery program for people affected by super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in Eastern Visayas, an official said on Wednesday.

Father Anton Pascual, Caritas Manila executive director, said the recovery program, with the help of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, will be jointly undertaken by the social arm and Caritas Internationalis in providing cash for work scheme to Yolanda survivors.

He said the Caritas networks will be raising around P359 million for the rehabilitation program.

Aside from the cash for work program, the prelate said the recovery plan also entails giving livelihood to the affected people by providing them with fishing and farming implements and tricycle units among others.

Based on the initial assessment of Caritas Philippines, the Church will be needing more than P286 million for the ongoing relief operations in the Yolanda affected provinces.

Father Pascual said the Church leadership  will form a group for the recovery and rehabilitation which will include the Caritas National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace, and bishops from the Yolanda affected dioceses.

The Caritas networks include  Caritas Española, Caritas New Zealand, Caritas Germany, Caritas Denmark, Caritas Luxemburg, Caritas Korea, Caritas France, Caritas Seoul, Caritas Indonesia, Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, Caritas Poland, Catholic fund for Overseas Development, Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, CordAid Netherlands, Caritas Ireland, Caritas Italiana, Marianisti CG, Caritas Monaco, Caritas Belgium, Caritas Japan, Caritas Lebanon, Caritas Slovenia, Caritas Australia, Caritas Sweden, Caritas Canada, Caritas Thailand, Caritas Vietnam, Caritas Austria, Caritas Humanitarian Aid and Relief Initiatives Singapore, Caritas Czech, Emergency Response Support Team  of Caritas Internationalis and the Knights of Colombos.