Giving Compass' Take:

• After the eruption of the Taal volcano in the Philipines, Filipino engineers are creating innovative strategies to help victims cope with the damage. 

• How can other communities suffering from natural disasters integrate the same eco-friendly strategies? What can donors do to help expand these efforts? 

• Read more about disaster relief and response guide for donors. 

Thousands of Filipinos fled their homes when a volcano near the capital, Manila, spewed ash and lava on the afternoon of 12 January.

The eruption of Taal volcano—considered the country’s deadliest, having killed about 6,000 in the past—caused multiple earthquakes in Batangas province, south of Metro Manila, forcing residents to seek temporary refuge in school gyms and classrooms outside the danger zone.

Two weeks into the unrest, evacuees yearning to return to their homes despite the risks have been strictly prohibited from doing so by authorities, amid the continuing threat of a major volcanic eruption.

Although help has poured in through donations of food and clothing, evacuees still face the bleak scenario of having no electricity, breathing air tainted by the smell of sulphur, and trekking through debris on cracked roads.

But some Filipinos have turned adversity into opportunity, and come up with creative  and earth-friendly ways to help their kababayans (fellow countrymen) ravaged by Taal.

Ed Brisenio, a long-time advocate of solar energy, sprang into action and called for volunteers to help make solar lamps for the electricity-deprived Taal evacuees through a Facebook post. They have made 200 solar lamps in two weeks and aim to make 400 more.

Brisenio said it costs about US$3 to put together a solar lamp, which consists of a 1 watt solar panel in a polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottle. The solar panel charges a lithium battery, which in turn powers the light emitting diode (LED). When the solar panel receives sunlight, the LED light automatically turns off to save energy before turning on again at night.

“This is not a new invention. You can learn how to make a solar lamp by reading textbooks. But I just thought that by actually teaching ordinary people how to make one, they could benefit from it, especially the Taal victims,” Brisenio told Eco-Business.

Read the full article about eco-friendly ways to cope with Taal eruption by Hannah Alcoseba Fernandez at Eco-Business.