Despair and hope after Typhoon Haiyan
Up until November 8, Elegario Ocdol led a fairly ordinary life. The 38-year-old elementary school teacher worked hard to provide for his wife Maricar and 5 children. He was worried about his debts and went crab fishing regularly, which helped feed his family.
That Friday, November 8, his life – and the lives of millions of others – changed forever.
"We heard on the news that we should leave our homes because of a (coming) typhoon and storm surge. So we and other families went to the elementary school."
Hours later, Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck the central Philippines. The seaside town of Basey, in Samar island – where Elegario's family lived – lay on its path. Through the night, Elegario listened fearfully as winds and rising seawater battered his community.
"In the morning, when we saw everything destroyed, we wept," he said.
As we stood in the rubble of Elegario's home, the reason for those tears became shockingly obvious. Most of the houses and its contents have vanished. Only jagged pieces of fabric, metal, and crockery lie strewn across the stone floor – traces of a life reduced to a memory.
IN RUINS. Elgario and his family stand in the ruins of where their house once stood. Photo from OxFam
Haiyan's wrath
Haiyan delivered a deadly double blow. First came one of the strongest storms to make landfall in history. Then followed a storm surge: a phenomenon that's hard to comprehend until you see the effects. The sea rose 5-6 metres high before ramming into coastal towns and farmlands like a train ploughing through a street of doll houses.
I drove with a team of Oxfam colleagues to the expanding front line of a crucial but challenged relief effort. We drove through city streets lined with debris and rough rural roads flanked by wood and metal shacks ripped to shreds.
We passed farmlands sodden with seawater and studded with coconut trees snapped in half like match sticks, their missing trunks often blocking rural roads, breaking power lines, or crushing flimsy shacks. Elegario's story is painfully retold across a devastated region.
In some cases, it's even worse. About 35 km by road from Basey, on the neighboring island of Leyte, lies the coastal town of Palo. They're still pulling out bodies from the mounds of rubble where lively neighborhoods once stood. Hundreds are still missing: most are assumed dead, their bodies lying trapped beneath the rubble.
"It's good it's raining today," whispered an Oxfam colleague, "or the smell would be everywhere."
My colleague came to Palo to coordinate relief plans with local officials. I watch aid workers erect a tent city for some of the people who survived Haiyan. About 200 metres away, low mounds of sandy grey soil cover the mass graves of more than 300 bodies.
The office of Palo mayor Remedios “Matin” Petilla was a bustling market of aid workers, municipal staff, engineers, medical personnel, nuns, and others seeking or offering information and support.
Overwhelmed government
Coordinating all this is a huge task. The government’s system for disaster response was overwhelmed by Haiyan's scale. There have been gaps, especially in terms of logistics and communications, hampering relief work.
"After the typhoon, our administration was badly affected, our communications were lost – it took 3 days to pull our team together," says Petilla.
Once they'd regrouped, Petilla's staff worked with doctors, local nuns and others to set up emergency medical services. Support from local and international aid organizations as well as national and foreign military personnel arrived. I ask Petilla what more the international community can do.
"Help us rebuild," she replied.
"I get depressed when I think of all the deaths or see the damage. But if we can rebuild well, there is hope.”
Flicker of hope
HOPE. A boy plays amid the ruins in the town of Basey. Photo from OxFam
Back in Basey, Elegario's use the damaged local library with 8 other families. There's no toilet, or washroom. A standing water pump outside is used for washing.
Like many others made homeless by Haiyan, Elegario has no idea where his family will end up. Standing in the remains of his home, Elegario’s eyes brim with tears.
"My oldest child talked about becoming a doctor. That was my dream, too. Now, my children's future is in darkness."
There is, potentially, a flame of hope flickering in the gloom. The first priority in any disaster is to save lives and prevent illness and disease spreading. But as Palo’s mayor noted, there also comes an opportunity to rebuild broken communities and leave them more resilient in the face of future shocks.
“We can’t just put people back into shacks,” says Petilla.
The Philippines frequently experiences typhoons – a hazard made more severe by climate change. The region most affected by Yolanda is also one of the poorest. Such poverty traps families in flimsy homes and deepening debt. They are left without the means of self recovery after typhoons strike.
With international backing, the Philippine government can drive a major redevelopment of the disaster zone that invests in safer, more prosperous communities. It should also strengthen those authorities, emergency services, and local organizations at the frontline of any emergency.
If that happens, we can lift the darkness now descending on millions of Filipino children and turn this disaster into an opportunity to mend their shattered dreams. - Rappler.com
Shaheen Chughtai, Deputy Head of Humanitarian and Security Issues Team, the campaigns and policy division of Oxfam. The Oxford-based expert is currently in Oxfam's office in Manila doing policy work on post-Haiyan recovery and rehabilitation.
