As Typhoon Lupit eventually leaves the Philippines, one thing is for certain — more damage and more disease will follow. That’s troubling, because the Philippines has been devastated by two previous storms, Ketsana and Parma.

The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is in the region helping. Senior project manager for international disaster response for the CRWRC is Grace Wiebe. While typhoons are common in the Philippines, storm surge has been the most damaging. “For example, in the Bay of Luzon, the water rose 3.4 meters spilling into the lakeside villages,” says Wiebe. “Those villages could stay flooded for two or three months.”

While the common waterborne diseases are having their effect on the population, one is not-so-common. “It’s called Leptospirosis, and the Philiippines government is worried about an epidemic. It kills about eight percent of the people it affects. It’s a kidney- and liver-destroying disease and comes from animal urine in the water.”