No Christmas...
For The Children of Iligan City

The raging floodwaters that Storm Sendong delivered came like a thief in the night to Iligan, a city unaccustomed to storms and floods. Iligan City mayor Lawrence Cruz said "It has affected so many of our constituents that even those who are expected to help are also victims," Cruz said on Balitanghali, and even described the calamity as the "worst in Iligan City's history."

The Philippines prepared for mass burials of flash-flood victims to minimize the health risk from rotting cadavers after a disaster that has left many hundreds dead or missing. Hard-pressed authorities in the port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, on the desperately poor and conflict-torn southern island of Mindanao, are struggling to cope with the enormous devastation left by the storm. Bodies that were washed out to sea have begun rising to the surface, and mortuaries are overwhelmed as emergency teams struggle to find survivors and tend to some 47,000 people huddled in evacuation centers.

Please Help

The flood was devastating, not only in material lost, but in smashing the spirits and hopes of the children. The HUGS Foundation - a non-profit, humanitarian organization that provides free medical services to the poor - was putting on the final touches for a Christmas party to be held at the City's landfill for the children who live there. Then the flood waters washed, not only the presents away, but many of the children. Staff workers also lost their homes. We desperately need food, clothing and medical supplies.

Click the button below to donate financially. For more information or to help us get food and supplies to those afflicted, please contact Ken Small at (210) 846-8441.

While people were sleeping and children dreaming of Christmas, suddenly massive waters came rushing down from the mountains. In less than one hour the water level rose to eleven feet washing everything away in its path. Homes, livestock, people were swept away or buried under piles of mud.

A mother and her two children drowned due to the swift current and debris.

A father with his two children - close in life and close in death.