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A Filipino organization in Hawaii plans to discuss fundraising efforts to assist victims affected by Typhoon Mangkhut, which wreaked havoc in the northern part of the Philippines. Read more

A Filipino organization in Hawaii plans to discuss fundraising efforts to assist victims affected by Typhoon Mangkhut, which wreaked havoc in the northern part of the Philippines.

“So many people in Hawaii have deep roots in the Philippines,” said state Rep. John Mizuno, who represents District 28, which covers Kalihi Valley, Kamehameha Highway and a portion of lower Kalihi. “Families are just bracing and hoping for the best.”

Typhoon Mangkhut, with powerful winds equivalent to a Category 5 storm, made landfall in Cagayan in northern Luzon early today.

Vanessa Kop, president of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, said the group plans to discuss fundraising efforts for typhoon victims at its Sept. 25 board meeting.

The group will likely collaborate with other organizations in Hawaii to assist typhoon victims as it did for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, Kop said.

PHOTO GALLERY >> Typhoon Mangkhut hammers the Philippines

Many in Hawaii’s Filipino community have relatives in the northern part of the Philippines such as Cagayan and Ilocos; a majority of Filipinos in the state are from Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.

Consul Roberto Bernardo of the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu said his office is monitoring impacts from the strong typhoon, which has flooded streets and knocked over utility poles and communication lines.

The Philippine Consulate General is available to assist families who are trying to contact relatives in areas directly affected by the storm. “We’re just ready to render any assistance that we can to Filipinos here in Hawaii in terms of reaching out to their relatives in the Philippines,” Bernardo said.

The Philippine Consulate General has yet to receive a call from the Office of the President of the Philippines to request international assistance.

“It’s a little too early,” Bernardo said.

Usually the protocol is for the Office of the President to contact the Philippine Consulate General in Honolulu. “We need to get authorized to receive donations,” Bernardo said. “We haven’t received any order to get donations, not yet.”

Approximately 4,000 families were evacuated days before the arrival of the storm.

Bernardo said the country was more prepared for the storm than in 2013 when more than 6,000 people died from Typhoon Haiyan.

Family members of Mizuno’s wife, May, were among the missing in the aftermath of Haiyan. The Mizuno family later received word that their relatives survived after neighbors rescued them when the storm tore off the roof of their home in Leyte.