Regarding the relief project,
Our goal is to provide an initial one million meal rations to people in need.
Pastor David Sumrall and teams from Cathedral of Praise in Manila are making assessments and organizing logistics through church network associations they have in Tacloban, the city/area most severely affected by the typhoon. Pete mentioned that the mayor of Tacloban visits CoP when in Manila, so government connections and clearances for relief work are favored at the highest levels.CoP will purchase bottled water, rice, sardines, and other primary necessities in Manila to ship to Ormoc City via RORO vessel (Roll On Roll Off). From there relief supplies will travel 20 hours overland to Tacloban.
Having been in similar situations, we assume port and road facilities will be under extreme duress due to damage from the storm and increased capacity from relief organizations, so time needed to move cargo from Point A to Point B will likely be longer and harder than expected.
Armanda is working on moving 175,000 or so rice/soy meals from Singapore and Malaysia to Manila or better yet, Ormoc City.
We are working at sourcing 800-900,000 additional rice/soy meals fideally looking for any inventory they may have elsewhere in Asia/Pacific Rim so as to expedite delivery to Manila or Ormoc City.
Funds will be needed either for purchase of goods in Manila and/or ocean freight for rice/soy meals.
As we know from experience, the first several weeks are a critical time in the relief process for potable water, water purification systems, proper foods, and hygiene items to be put in the hands of survivors. And food supplies will be helpful and welcomed for a few months to come.
