University of Canterbury aid worker on the scene helping typhoon victims
December 9, 2014
A University of Canterbury international humanitarian aid worker is on the scene helping victims of Typhoon Hagupit
which has swept across eastern Philippines, threatening many coastal areas.
More than 600,000 residents of low-lying villages and landslide-prone areas have fled to schools, civic centres, town
halls, gyms and churches, the Philippines national disaster agency says.
Linda Cruse, the university’s senior fellow and entrepreneur in residence, is helping victims in Carles, a small area in
the far north east of Iloilo Island.
“I have been here facilitating economic uplift since Typhoon Haiyan hit just over a year ago. It’s been all about
adopting a hands up not hands out policy. It's about bringing economic vibrancy back to a community and then build back
better than before.
“Typhoon Hagupit is hitting the village right now and I am here in the middle of it. With me nearby, is the Genevieve
Corich, the daughter of former University of Canterbury graduate Katherine Corich who came with me to help before the
typhoon hit. Genevieve is not in Carles. She was evacuated to a safe area In Iloilo city.
“The typhoon has pounded us for hours and hours of severe winds and rain blackouts. Food shortage is the first priority
and today I am organising a truck of food with hygiene kits, water and baby milk as returning families are in desperate
need of basic shelter, food and medical supplies.
“More than half a million people have fled from the typhoon in one of the world's biggest peacetime evacuations as the
storm churns towards central provinces that still bear the scars of a super typhoon Haiyan 13 months ago, one of the
strongest typhoons ever to make landfall.”
Cruse has previously responded to other natural disasters in third world countries like the 2004 Asian tsunami and the
2005 Pakistan earthquake.
Cruse has also worked with Tibetan, Afghan, Burmese refugees and other challenged communities in the deserts of
Uzbekistan, the jungle of the Amazon, and the mountain nomads in the Himalayas and Atlas mountains. Her work has been
actively supported by Prince Charles, the Dalai Lama and Sir Richard Branson.
She has a reputation of facilitating a sustainable hand up in communities following a disaster with my main focus in
livelihood recovery. Getting families back on their feet, independent again is something few aid agencies focus on.
Cruse will deliver an entrepreneurial course to University of Canterbury management students next year – called the
21-day challenge. More information will be available in the new year.
ENDS