LOS ANGELES, April 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A $14,500 grant from The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) clears the way for the Rotary Club of Legazpi in Albay Province, the Philippines, to buy a water purifier and generator that will bring drinkable water to an estimated 3,000 people in the Utap area of Tacloban City, one of the areas hit hardest by Typhoon Haiyan last November.

News agencies have reported that Haiyan claimed more than 6,100 lives, displaced 4.1 million people and damaged 1.14 million houses, half of which were completely destroyed. According to official estimates, nearly 15 million people were affected by the typhoon, and full reconstruction efforts will cost the government around $8 billion over the next four years.

Marylou Duka-Castillo, director and past president of the Rotary Club of Legazpi, said the purifier offers the best way to get safe drinking water to residents of areas identified as the most crippled in the wake of the storm. The club initially addressed the crisis by distributing 5-gallon plastic containers of water.

Duka-Castillo said that the club is targeting one neighborhood of around 3,000 people, but residents of a wider area could eventually benefit. "The number of recipients," she said, "will vary, and should increase if the use of the filtration system is maximized to its full capacity. The project will have a lasting impact on the health of citizens in the recipient community, since this will provide them with a continuous supply of clean, potable drinking water."

The water filtration system the club is buying can filter up to 6,000 gallons a day.  Duka-Castillo said that the Kankabato Rotary Club in Tacloban will also be involved in local oversight of the project.

The contribution represents the third TPRF has made to nonprofit organizations in the wake of the typhoon. International disaster relief groups Mercy Corps and AmeriCares accepted the two previous grants.

About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)
Founded in 2001, The Prem Rawat Foundation strives to address the fundamental human needs of food, water and peace so that people can live with dignity, peace and prosperity. For more information, visit: www.tprf.org.

SOURCE The Prem Rawat Foundation