On November 7th, 2013, category 5 typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded in history, made landfall in the Visayas region of the Philippines. It devastated the islands of Samar and Leyte, killing thousands and displacing millions of Filipinos.  

 

Houston Alliance of volunteers in Medicine was part of the collaborative project named "Tulong Mula Sa Puso" (TMSP), a concerted effort between several Filipino-American organizations to help the victims the typhoon . After raising almost $50K for the victims,  a team of volunteers used their own resources to travel to the devastated towns of Samar and Leyte for a successful medical and relief mission on June 16-20, 2014. The project served 5600 patients in one week and helped hundreds re-establish livelihood community projects like fishing boats and job-creating trades.