Salcedo resident thankful as anticipatory aid prepared them to face Odette

When Naty Pernito learned that their town of Salcedo in Eastern Samar province was on track to be affected by typhoon ‘Odette’ (international name: Rai), she could not help but get anxious.

However, she consoled herself that her family—composed of her husband Jeffrey and four young children—was part of a disaster preparedness project of Oxfam Pilipinas, which included the provision of cash assistance when a disaster was forecasted.

In their village of Bagtong (population 2,146 with 443 households), the 38-year old housewife was among the recipients of Oxfam Pilipinas’ preemptive cash assistance under its Building Resilient, Adaptive, and Disaster Ready Communities (B-READY) Project.

The B-READY project is an innovation that combines weather forecasting and pre-disaster cash transfer technology to empower communities to prepare for natural disasters.

The project is jointly implemented by Oxfam Novib, Oxfam Pilipinas, People’s Disaster Risk Reduction Network, PLAN International, PayMaya, Smart Padala, Global Parametrics, and the Local Government of Salcedo in Eastern Samar.

According to Naty, aside from possible damage to their house, what worries her the most in a disaster situation is not having cash on hand to meet their needs.

Her husband works as a merchandiser assigned at the nearby town of Guiuan and earns a daily income of only over P300, an amount that is not even enough to meet their daily needs.

“My husband is the only income-earner in the family as I stay at home to look after our four children. We depend on his income for us to survive,” she said.

Naty recalled their worst experience when Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ wreaked havoc on their town on November 8, 2013. She said that their house was completely damaged, and they had to evacuate to ensure their safety.

She added they experienced going hungry for days because food aid did not come on time, and they had no money to buy food and other essentials.

“It was a challenging experience. There was nothing to see but destruction, and people like us had no means to buy food to survive,” Naty said.

But with their village of Bagtong included in Oxfam’s B-READY project, this time she felt somehow at ease.

“While I was afraid of the forthcoming typhoon, I was confident that we would not go hungry because we had the money to buy our food and other essential goods for at least three days,” she said.

Naty received P1,700 via one of B-READY’s partner remittance centers located at the town center.

“I am not saying that we are happy that we will be hit by a disaster; what I am saying is that unlike before, we now have funds which we can use to buy food,” Naty said calmly.

She said the first time she received assistance from Oxfam Pilipinas under the B-READY Project was last year when their town was lashed by typhoon ‘Auring.’

Using her cash card ahead of the landfall of Auring, she was able to buy rice, water, and other essentials.

“We are really thankful to Oxfam Pilipinas for coming to our town and helping us prepare for disasters with the cash support ahead of the storm,” she said.

Aside from the B-READY project of Oxfam Pilipinas in Eastern samar, Oxfam and partners provided water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance, food, and shelter needs to more than 60,000 individuals or 12,000 families in Palawan, Leyte and Southern Leyte, and Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte Province.

The families affected by typhoon Odette still need essentials such as shelter materials, potable water, medicine and health care, hygiene kits, mental and psychosocial healing, and Covid-19 essentials such as face masks and tests, among many others.