Navy Officer awarded MBE for giving aid to Philippines

A Royal Navy officer who was one of the first people to arrive in a country devastated by a typhoon and repaired vital water wells and electricity hubs has been presented with an MBE by Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle.

Lieutenant Wendy Frame was HMS Daring’s Deputy Marine Engineering Officer in 2013, and was on board when the ship was sent to the Philippines in November that year to assist with the crisis.

More than 6,300 people died when Typhoon Haiyan struck and communities had been flattened in many of the outlying islands. Over nine days Daring and her crew surveyed 42,200 square miles covering more than 70 islands.

They treated 300 patients and delivered 21 tonnes of stores and 7,656 litres of fresh drinking water ashore.

Wendy visited some of the worst hit islands with her team, assessing damage to water plants and electricity stations. On one occasion she ensured a small island community of 200 young families had their first access to clean drinking water in nearly a fortnight after the typhoon forced salt water into the wells.

Along with her team of engineers, Wendy also rebuilt two classrooms that had been completely destroyed on Guintacan, allowing children who had been off school since the disaster to return.

Her success impressed the locals who asked her to look at more buildings, and she effectively delegated her team to allow more of the island’s vital infrastructure to be rebuilt.