Hawai'i's Filipino community and others scrambled to organize fundraisers and relief efforts yesterday for victims of the Philippine landslide even as hopes for survivors dimmed.

"Whenever these things have happened in the past, we have responded," said former Gov. Ben Cayetano, the country's first Filipino-American governor. "The heart of it comes from the main ethnic groups affected, whether it's the Mount Pinatubo eruption, Kyoto earthquake or the hurricane in American Samoa. But other ethnic groups are very generous as well."

Businessman Eddie Flores Jr., president and chief executive officer of the popular L&L Drive-Inn restaurants, wondered yesterday about Hawai'i's continuing generosity to Philippine disasters, especially among Filipinos who already regularly send money back home.

"They seem to have so many tragedies, not just one per year, but every two or three months," Flores said. "The Filipino community in Hawai'i is very willing to help, but there can be a fatigue factor because every two or three months there seems to be a flood or a volcano in the Philippines."

Efforts nevertheless continued yesterday on several fronts to send aid in response to last week's devastating landslide on the southern part of Leyte island, which is believed to have killed at least 1,800 people:

ALOHA MEDICAL MISSION

The Aloha Medical Mission shipped $10,000 to $20,000 worth of antibiotics, sutures, IVs and other medical supplies Friday night to the Philippine National Red Cross. Yesterday, the group was preparing a team of eight to 10 Hawai'i healthcare providers to go to Leyte in the next week or two, said Dr. Jorge Camara, the group's board president.

"The whole village was leveled by this landslide," Camara said. "Unfortunately, I have a feeling that there won't be many survivors."

The Hawai'i team will be led by Dr. Vernon Ansdell, an infectious disease specialist at Kaiser Permanente's Moanalua Medical Center, "which will be perfect," Camara said.

"The greatest battle will be the risk of infectious diseases as bodies are recovered," Camara said.

Since its founding in 1983, 45 of the group's 73 missions have been to the Philippines, he said.

FILIPINO COMMUNITY CENTER

The Filipino Community Center in Waipahu will accept monetary donations from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. today in the hopes of raising $10,000, said president Toy Arre Jr.

"We're looking to collect cash only, no clothes or anything like that," Arre said. "It becomes a logistical problem."

RED CROSS

The Red Cross also can only accept cash donations, said Coralie Chun Matayoshi, CEO of the Hawai'i State Chapter of the American Red Cross.

"When a disaster like this strikes, people naturally want to collect clothing and food items to support the victims," Matayoshi said. "In past disasters, donations of millions of pounds of clothing, food and medicine formed a backlog that actually hampered relief efforts. This is why a cash donation is the best way to help."

OTHER FUNDRAISERS

Today's Filipino Community Center fundraiser follows a gathering of Filipino community leaders Friday night at the Philippine consulate in Nu'uanu in which $5,000 in donations was pledged, said Rep. Felipe "Jun" Abinsay, D-29th (Kalihi, Sand Island).

Abinsay also is working with Luis Butay, the owner of Loulen's Restaurant on North King Street, which Abinsay described as "Kalihi's newest Filipino restaurant."

Butay and his wife, Belen, came to Hawai'i from the Philippines — he's from the North and she's from the South, closer to the scene of Friday's landslide.

On Wednesday, Loulen's Restaurant will host a karaoke contest to benefit relief efforts. On Friday, Butay will organize ballroom dancing to raise more money.

Then on Feb. 26, he will open the restaurant for a $25 lunch-time buffet, in which $12.50 of every bill will go to the Philippines, Butay said.

"We go to the Philippines three or four times per year," Butay said. "We see a lot of people who need help. It hurts in the heart if you don't help them. We should all get together as Filipinos to help out."

Abinsay encouraged any efforts to raise money for the Leyte landslide relief. Another meeting of Filipino community leaders will be held Feb. 26 at the Philippine Consulate at 2 p.m. to decide how much has been collected and how best to distribute it, Abinsay said.

"If you can think of any fundraising on your own, just do it," Abinsay said, "and we'll figure it out."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.