Edmund de los Reyes and Carla Quinzon were both sophomore students of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. They were also membersof a Christian campus organization called Campus Crusade for Christ.In September 1973, a year after the declaration of martial law all over the Philippines by President Ferdinand E. Marcos, a very strong typhoon struck Central Luzon, killing many people and submerging many towns of Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac with the floodwaters it caused. The typhoon's local name was Welming.U.P. Campus Crusade for Christ launched a project called Aid for Welming Victims. The project aimed to gather donations of food, clothing, money, and other items that could be of use to the victims of the typhoon.