H&M Foundation is sending help through the Philippine Red Cross
With the devastation currently happening in the Visayas and Mindanao regions due to the recent onslaught of Typhoon Odette, organizations, both local and international, are doing their part in helping the affected Filipinos get back on their feet. Even the fashion community is lending a hand in helping people get necessary supplies during the aftermath of the typhoon. The latest to extend aid is international retailer H&M through its foundation.
Typhoon Odette has caused widespread damage to buildings affecting livelihoods, agriculture, and infrastructure. It has also brought severe flooding and rain-induced landslides to large parts of the areas in its way. Communication, power lines, and water supply have been widely disrupted. At this stage, it is estimated that over 1.8 million people have been affected by the typhoon and close to 440,000 are currently displaced. The country has battled COVID-19 for two years which has affected the country financially, and with more bad weather predicted to come, support is needed urgently. To continue its mission of helping Filipinos, H&M Foundation is donating $100,000 to the Philippine Red Cross to support the people affected.
The donation will for example be used for:
- Shelter, housing, and settlements (people targeted – 90,000)
- Livelihoods (people targeted – 90,000)
- Health and care (people targeted – 100,000)
- Protection, gender, and inclusion (people targeted 400,000)
- Risk reduction, climate adaption, and recovery (people targeted – 60,000).
“The H&M Foundation has been in partnership with the Swedish and Philippine Red Cross since 2013 after the onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda. They also made a donation after Typhoon Vinta ravaged Southern Philippines and affected over 90,000 children in 2017, as well as to the affected communities in Eastern Visayas following Typhoon Ursula,” says Frankie Shadbolt, H&M PHilippines’ country sales manager. “And then most recently, to the affected communities during the Taal Volcano eruption and Typhoon Ulysses that happened in 2020.”
The $100,000 that the H&M Foundation provided through the Philippine Red Cross for each of the major calamities in the country have contributed to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of women, men, and children by ensuring that affected communities have immediate access to essential items and services. These include water, food, sanitation, shelter, healthcare, livelihood, psychosocial support, and protection.
Check out more Typhoon Odette relief operations and donation drives here and below.