Ma. Lusia Alvarez, 38 years old and a mother to four children, lives in Zone 2 in Barangay Adela, San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. She works as a Barangay Health Worker and a part time maker of handicrafts made out of recycled materials. Her husband works in a farm.

During the lockdown, she had stable earnings from her handicrafts as she used to finish five pieces a day. Each handicraft product costs about PhP50.00 a piece However, their days of getting by were disrupted by the TY Quinta forecast which threatened to affect the Mindoro province.

Due to the deeply distressing experience her family had with another strong typhoon barely a year ago, they immediately evacuated to the Barangay Health Center even before TY Quinta was felt in the province. In December 2019, TY Ursula (I.N. Phanfone) severely damaged their house which was made of light materials. Not yet fully repaired, their house was once again damaged by TY Quinta.

The typhoon also greatly affected their sources of income. After the typhoon, Luisa had no earnings from her handicraft business because fellow residents who were also affected by the typhoon could no longer afford to buy her products.

The heavy rains and strong winds damaged the crops where her husband is working. The mobility restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 limited other job opportunities for the farm workers whose livelihood was devastated by this series of disasters.

After the storm, they are in great need of food, hygiene kits, shelter repair materials and livelihood assistance. That is why they she is very thankful to be chosen as one of the beneficiaries of the Emergency Relief Assistance Project for TY Quinta-Affected communities in Occidental Mindoro by the Southern Tagalog People’s Response Center, Inc. (STPRC) and Citizen’s Disaster Response Center Foundation, Inc. (CDRC) with support from Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH).

“The food pack will help us get through the next few days. I’m glad that there’s also a hygiene kit provided. This will help us prevent getting infected with COVID-19. I am really grateful!”