Hope in the Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan

One year ago, Super Typhoon Haiyan—the strongest tropical typhoon on record to make landfall—devastated a huge part of central Philippines, claiming thousands of lives and destroying homes and livelihoods.  

P&G was at the forefront of relief efforts, working with partners to donate P&G products, such as Safeguard, Tide, Joy, Pantene and Pampers. With Save the Children and World Vision, we also provided 25 million liters of safe drinking water through our P&G Purifier of Water technology.

We then turned to helping small community stores rebuild and re-stock their businesses through our Project Hope rehabilitation program. These micro-distributors, called sari-sari stores, are the backbone of the distribution of consumer goods in many towns and cities across the Philippines, and serve as key pillars of the local economy.

With the help of our distributor partner, Dranix East, P&G was first on the scene to get the stores back up and running. To date, more than 1,600 sari-sari stores have been rehabilitated and a total of 100 million pesos ($2.5 million USD) given towards relief and rehabilitation.   

One year later, this 13-minute P&G documentary remembers the victims and honors the survivors of Haiyan by shining a light on what remains after the storm: the Filipino resilience to overcome challenges, the ability to rise again, and the tremendous strength to move forward after so much loss.

Anna Legarda-Locsin, head of communications for P&G Philippines, said, ”Sari-sari stores are part of P&G’s core expertise and history in the Philippines, and this is one of the most meaningful ways we can help. But at the end of the day, the people are what matter. We want to make sure their stories are heard—and not forgotten—after the storm. We are honored to be a part of their lives and their Hope Stories.”

P&G Project Hope continues its commitment through our partnership with USAID, Rebuild and Coca-Cola. As USAID rebuilds homes for families, they are including sari-sari stores as part of the effort. P&G and Coca-Cola then step in to fully stock the stores with their best-selling products, as starting capital for the storeowners. Our goal is to turn more than 500 stores over to families in Tacloban, Tanauan and Palo in the next two years.