Relief for Mull couple after super typhoon

A Mull couple aiding an island community hit by Typhoon Odette before Christmas have described the ongoing devastation and appealed for help.

Andrew Fuller, senior associate at Oban estate agent Bell Ingram, fl ew to the Philippines with his wife Gerlie to join the aid effort in her home island called Sibanac in the Dinagat region. Gerlie’s village, alongside 10,000 others, lay in the direct path of the 600km wide super typhoon, the strongest storm in 2021, when it made landfall on December 16, battering coastal communities with 240 km/h winds, wrecking houses, shops, banks and hospitals.

The fate of Gerlie’s family was unknown as the couple waited in quarantine in the Philippines’ capital city of Manila after the category fi ve storm tore down communication lines and landslides, fallen trees and debris left most roads impassable.

They feared the worst, but ‘thankfully Gerlie’s family is safe and well and focused on helping the effort to help the less fortunate in her village,’

Typhoon Odette was the third Category 5 storm to hit the Philippines in the past two years; the second in 2021. More than 300,000 people were evacuated ahead of landfall and millions were a ected.

Andrew told Mull and Iona Life.

Many have not been so lucky: the nationwide death toll climbed to more than 400 at New Year.

‘There is a dwindling supply of food and water and not much shelter left “ across the region,’ Andrew wrote on their Justgiving crowdfunding website, Help Dinagat. ‘This is why I urgently and humbly ask for everyone’s help. Dinagat needs staple food, drinking water, temporary shelters, fuel, hygiene kits and medical supplies.

‘There are so many people needing the basics - materials to put a roof over their heads for one,’ he continued. ‘Our modest target will help around 30 families in Gerlie’s village.’

In another update, Andrew said: ‘Tatang’s modest house is yet another property devastated by the typhoon. ‘She described the moment when the typhoon struck, saying she was scared one of the coconut trees would fall on the house and hurt her family. When we met her, she’d just constructed a makeshift shelter from bits of damaged tin sheet and some tarpaulin. She will have to live like this until she has enough money to reroof her house.’

A second photograph shows the Rogillo family on December 29, trying to escape the rain in their hastily

made shelter, using materials salvaged from their house. ‘The whole family stays in there and it contains everything precious to them,’ he said. ‘There is a constant sound of metal sheets scraping and There are so banging, with many shards of many people sharp metal still being blown needing around. the basics - ‘The village jetty, a lifeline, was washed away. materials to put ‘At night, the sound of a roof over their generators fi lls the air. People heads for one are desperate to charge mobile phones and power a few lightbulbs. ‘I especially and humbly request that those people back at our home on the Isle of Mull, a close island community which welcomed us both with open arms, can fi nd a way to join and support our efforts to provide direct help to another small island community in desperate need.’