HAMPTON ROADS (WAVY) – The Virginia Beach-based nonprofit Operation Blessing has boots on the ground in Guam after the U.S. Pacific island was hit by terrifying winds and waves from Typhoon Mawar.
It left behind devastation, but luckily, less than was expected.
Some smaller communities got the worst of the damage.
“It completely wiped out some of the smaller communities,” said Mason Pigue, director of humanitarian relief for Operation Blessing. “A lot of the other parts of the island are pretty well reinforced. A lot of their buildings are made out of concrete. A lot of the smaller communities are not.”
Operation Blessing quickly got crews on the ground in Guam.
After the initial assessments, the nonprofit set its eyes on helping two communities, Dededo and Yigo, both battered by the storm.
“Our intent is to focus and provide a variety of relief to include food packages, hygiene kits and some emergency relief type of kits,” Pigue said.
Those kits will be made with items readily available in the community.
Pigue said they’ll aid in the economic rebuild after the typhoon.
“There is plenty of resources currently on the ground, so we can start our purchasing processes this week, hopefully,” he said.
Once everything is purchased, it’s just a matter of getting the items into the hands of those in need.
“Pour into the communities we are trying to help,” he said.
Operation Blessing plans to be in Guam for the next two weeks. Crews will continue to assess the need and decide whether to stay longer on the island.
