Filipinos in GTA collecting aid for typhoon victims
Last Updated: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 | 6:33 PM ET
CBC News
People wade in the chest deep floodwater Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009 in suburban Cainta, east of Manila, Philippines. Rescuers plucked bodies from muddy floodwaters and scrambled to save drenched survivors on rooftops Sunday after a tropical storm tore through the northern Philippines and left 75 people dead or missing in the region's worst flooding in more than four decades. (AP Photo/Mike Alquinto)Filipinos living in the Greater Toronto Area are responding to the crisis in their homeland by collecting donations for the victims of typhoon Ketsana.
Rosalinda Cerrudo-Javier, president of Toronto's Filipino Centre, says it doesn't seem to matter if people have family directly affected by typhoon.
"Well you know us Filipinos — two cousins down the line is still your relative," said Cerrudo-Javier.
The Filipino Centre is asking for donations of cash, food and clothing to help the people hit worst by the flooding.
The Philippines consulate has also responded by setting up a bank account.
"This is one sad occasion. But the Canadian-Filipino community here in GTA are very united in case of this kind of disaster," said consul-general Alejandro Mosquera.
Mosquera says most of the people hurt by the floods are poor "so when their houses get washed away, everything is gone."
There are about 100,000 Filipinos in the GTA and about one-third of them have families affected by the typhoon, Cerrudo-Javier said. "Although you say most of the time thank God you're here [in Canada], then you realize oh gosh, these are my people. After what happens you can only try to do your best."
Toronto-based paramedic Rahul Singh — who is part of the Toronto-based charity GlobalMedic — is on his way to the Philippines, taking with him six water purification units along with 1.4 million water purification tablets.
Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis, who represents the riding of Scarborough-Agincourt, is calling on Ottawa to provide $5 million in immediate aid to the government of the Philippines.
