2. The Philippines A group of over seven thousand islands off the coast of South-East Asia With a population of 100 million people The third most at risk country in the world to natural disasters

3. There are over 160 ethnic groups and languages in the Philippines.

4. Over 80% of Filipinos are Catholic This church is being used to store food supplies after a typhoon.

5. More than one third of Filipinos live in rural areas. The main cash crops grown by farmers are rice, corn, coconut, sugarcane and bananas.

6. On December 3, 2012 Typhoon Bopha made land fall on the southern island of Mindanao. It was a category 5 super typhoon with wind speeds up to 278km/hr.

7. Nearly 2,000 people died and 200,000 more people were left homeless.

8. 60% of the coconut trees were destroyed. As a result many coconut farmers lost their livelihoods.

9. Because 25% of the population live below the poverty line it is difficult for people to bounce back after a disaster.

10. The Philippines experiences at least 20 typhoons per year. At least oneof these causes significant damage.

11. The Philippines is also susceptible to floods Metro Manila

12. And earthquakes Bohol, Central Visayas

13. To help in emergencies Caritas Aotearoa NZ works with its partner agency, Caritas Philippines.

14. Humanitarian agencies like Caritas use a model called ‘the emergency cycle’ to help plan their work after a disaster. The Emergency Cycle

15. Disaster Occurs

16. RESPONSE PHASE: Aid agencies and locals begin to assess the damage and clean up.

17. Tarpaulins are supplied for emergency shelter

18. Food and clean water distributed

19. RECOVERY PHASE: Houses are rebuilt

20. People begin to grow their own food again

21. Mitigation Phase Communities are rebuilt in such a way as to reduce the risk of damage in another typhoon. This house is strapped to the foundations with metal strips to make it more stable in a storm.

22. This village was re-located away from a stream to prevent flooding.

23. Preparedness Phase This typhoon shelter provides a safe evacuation centre in a storm or flood.

24. Caritas assists at every stage of the cycle

25. Subsidiarity When working with people after a disaster, Caritas tries to put into action the Catholic social teaching principle of subsidiarity. This means that decision- making about how to rebuild involves the contribution of those who have been affected.

26. With the help of agencies such as Caritas, Filipino communities will be able to Build Back Better so that they will be more resilient to future disasters.