Philippines (MNN) — Weather experts are keeping their eyes on a storm that continues to gain strength as it sets its sights on the Philippines. According to weather experts Typhoon Haiyan is gaining strength and is expected to be packing winds of up to 160 miles per hour by the time it makes landfall sometime Friday or Saturday. The Philippines have been hit with storms already this year, but this is expected to be the most severe.
Typhoon Haiyan is expected to make landfall in the region of the Philippines where a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed more than 150 people last month. The super-typhoon is expected to produce a severe and inundating storm surge, especially along the eastern coast of southern Luzon and Samar islands.
Executive Director of World Mission Greg Kelley is concerned. He says they have a team on the ground there. “Our team will be a little bit south of that, so they shouldn’t be in the direct passage of this typhoon, but many of the churches that we work with and have been a part of planning are likely going to take the brunt of this storm.”
Will World Mission try and get the team out of there. Kelley says no. “When this kind of a storm comes through it presents a unique opportunity to share the Gospel. We go in there and respond and do what we can to provide temporary housing, shelter and food.”
Kelley says there’s more. “We always bring the Word of God. And so, our hope is that we can distribute about 500 Treasures over the next few weeks into these areas to the victims and the people affected by this storm.
A Treasure is a digital audio Bible in their language. $40 puts a Treasure into someone’s hands. But, World Mission also needs funding to help provide temporary shelters and to help rebuild churches that will likely be destroyed. “It takes us about $500 to build a shelter for a couple of families and about $3,000 to build a church.
While the storm has yet to hit the region, it’s already water-logged from a heavy storm that already saturated the ground. With rainfall amounts expected between 8 and 12 inches, mudslides and widespread flooding will also be a concern.
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