Seeking to fund its recovery project for thousands of families devastated by Typhoon Odette, Catholic Church’s Caritas Philippines has called on well-meaning people to help the humanitarian and advocacy arm of the church to gather P400 million.

Around 11,000 poor families need assistance to recover and rebuild their lives after the typhoon’s onslaught, Caritas said.

Bishop Jose Colin M. Bagaforo, the national director of Caritas, said they are targeting to aiding typhoon survivors who are still dwelling in makeshift shelters.

“In the affected areas, they are really the ones who have nothing. They have lost their livelihood and they can’t even afford to build even a shanty,” he said as he appealed for financial aid for the project to materialize.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, the president of Caritas Internationalis, called the effort a “friend-raising” activity because “we need to increase the number of friends who will care for others.”

“It is not just a program actually. It is a way to follow Jesus who offered his whole life, his body, his blood for the good of all,” he said in a video message.

The P400 million, according to Caritas, will be utilized to construct new houses and provide livelihood packages to the affected families in at least 11 dioceses.

Most of the targeted beneficiaries by the project are fisherfolk families whose houses and fishing boats have been swept away by the typhoon, Caritas noted.

Right after the devastation of Typhoon Odette on Dec. 16, Caritas immediately sent food and other forms of relief to help affected residents.

But, Bagaforo said this is not enough as “many people are still in great need.”

Per Caritas, over three million people were affected by the typhoon that ravaged several regions in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“The agriculture sector has incurred an estimated damage worth almost P16 billion while the damage to infrastructure has reached over P17 billion,” it noted.