Maybank-Mercy Malaysia collaborate to improve lives

TYPHOON HAIYAN brought great destruction in 2013. Among the affected were 93 schools in Ormoc City, Philippines, with Nasunogan Elementary School being one of the more seriously-damaged structures.
Located in Barangay Nasunogan, (barangay means small administrative district in Tagalog) the elementary school is a four block wooden structure comprising seven classrooms. During the typhoon, all four blocks lost its roofs, while two had its structure completely destroyed. Five of the classrooms sustained total damage. The school also lost most of its instructional materials, such as books, school files and test papers. As such, Nasunogan Elementary School was unable to recover on its own as it lacked financial resources. However, a joint effort by Mercy Malaysia and the Maybank Foundation resulted in the rebuilding and restoration of the school.
The collaboration led to a rehabilitation programme, which saw the school being redesigned to withstand typhoons, which is a common occurrence in the Philippines.
“By constructing the school to withstand typhoons and earthquakes, it will also function as an evacuation centre during a disaster, with the capacity to accommodate the people of the barangay,” said Mercy Malaysia president Datuk Dr Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus.
Maybank Foundation CEO Shahril Azuar Jimin stated that the rehabilitation efforts were inline with Maybank’s mission to humanise financial services, as well as the foundation’s commitment to support communities affected by natural disasters.
“When we heard of the devastation wrought by the typhoon, we were concerned that education of the students would be affected,” he said. “This effort to rebuild the school, which is a significant part in the lives of some 400 families there, displays Maybank’s commitment to be in the heart of the communities it serves. Our hope is that it will ensure the sustainable provision of education to the community within the barangay and help the children look forward to a brighter future.”
With the assistance of workers from the barangay, as well as support from Mercy Malaysia and the Maybank Foundation, the school was rehabilitated in early December 2014 and made fully operational before the end of that year.