God Was Looking After Us

Marilyn (aged 28) was worried when Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda, struck the Philippines.  With a baby well on the way, she moved from her parents’ to her aunt’s house where she and her husband thought the family would be safer.  It was a sturdier house.

She reports, “Suddenly a wave crashed into the house and we had to escape. We fled to my uncle’s house, and there was corrugated iron and nails flying around. I had to keep myself calm, because I didn’t want to go into labour. My husband kept me safe. I was confident that God was looking after me and answering my prayers. With all the debris that was flying around, we weren’t hit.  We were kept safe. God was looking over us.

“I didn’t come back immediately after the storm as I was stressed and needed sleep (they were staying in the school). I returned about a week later after my father was able to fix a house. It’s very small and 8 of us sleep in a tight space like sardines. Now we’re unable to make a lot of money, as Renel (her husband) can’t go deep sea fishing because the boats are damaged. Now he’s doing hook and line fishing from a small boat to catch enough fish for us to eat. He hopes to go out in the new moon, which is the best time to catch squid, but we don’t know when the boat he works on will be fixed.” (Renel crews on a bigger squid fishing boat).

Before the storm Marilyn ran a small convenience store but everything was washed away.  Until ACT Alliance came with a food package, the only support the family had was a small amount of rice from the local government. On 22 November Marilyn gave birth to her son Renel junior (pictured.  Before the typhoon the family lived with Marilyn’s parents while saving money to build their own home.  “In all the years I have been here, I’ve never seen anything like this (storm).  The intensity was crazy,” she said.

“Normally at Christmas, we make sure we save some food and manage to have a meal as a family all together. But now, following the typhoon, we’re not even thinking about Christmas, we’re just thankful we’re alive and we have something to eat,” she concluded.

6 December 2013 (ACT Alliance)

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ACT relief reaching Haiyan survivors – but more is needed

By the light of a dozen torches and two motorcycle lamps, the residents of Hernani, a district of east Samar wrecked by typhoon Haiyan, collect parcels of food that will sustain them for a week. Where a fortnight ago Haiyan made landfall, a marketplace serves as the collection point this evening. Local leaders read the names of residents under their jurisdiction. At their name, residents move up to the table and sign to take a bag. When the last name is called, a cheer goes up.

The next village is an otherwise idyllic setting, just off the beach and overlooked by coconut trees. Except that the sandy gravel where the distribution takes place was once full of houses, washed away by the giant waves that crossed the sea and then the land on November 8. In this area alone, 65 people

died, while another four are still missing. A handful of houses remain but it’s otherwise impossible to tell this is a township.

It’s too late to share relief packs with a third village, so labourers haul the remaining parcels off the trucks, one by one, by hand, as they’d been loaded on the night before. And pack them carefully by candlelight in the United church. At first light the next day, residents gather to collect the precious parcels.

The food is from ACT Alliance member National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP) and is funded by ACT Alliance members under a larger US$14.1m appeal. With each parcel of rice, tinned sardines, dried fish, oil and biscuits, comes palpable relief that at least one immediate need is met. With a round of thank yous and words of gratitude, residents return to what remains of their homes or to the rudimentary shelters they’ve built of tarpaulins or materials they have salvaged.

A total of 2200 households in Hernani will get food parcels, following 620 the day before in a town on the west coast. The job is not done: already the next consignment of parcels are being weighed and counted in Manila before making the journey down to the disaster areas.                                              Northern Iloilo/ACT Alliance

It is one ACT Alliance response of many. Across the worst affected areas of the country – the islands of Samar, Leyte, northern Cebu,  Iloilo – 10 ACT Alliance members are distributing food, offering tents, carrying out temporary rehabilitation work, and offering health services such as minor surgery, neo natal treatment, vaccination and health promotion.

With local authorities, ACT members are working out who is in greatest need, in what areas and the likely constraints to distribution. ACT members are establishing which areas most need food, shelter, psychosocial support, hygiene kits, and water, sanitation and hygiene programmes. A lot of work involves meeting other relief groups to work out the best way of carrying out the work.

Thankful to have family alive

It is strange to hear laughter in the face of tragedy. As the food parcels at Hernani are handed out, young people jokingly voice their satisfaction with the biscuits. Others laugh as they egg their neighbours forward to collect parcels. When a bag spits and the contents disperse, a cry of ‘landslide’ goes up. Down the road, someone’s put up a Christmas tree, virtually a permanent structure in this landscape. The people of Hernani greet visitors with cameras with a wave and a smile, as they always do.

The laughter belies or maybe disguises the severity of the situation in the Philippines. Government estimates, reported by UNOCHA, of affected people have again gone up, now to 13.25 million. Haiyan left 4.4 million people homeless, with most living in places other than evacuation centres.

Collapse of infrastructure worsens the response. On Samar, cell phone reception is patchy, at best. It is without electricity and probably will be until January. That is when Carlos Calvadores and wife Joy, expect to finally be able to start earning a salary again, if classes at the primary school where they teach resume.

“We’re really grateful for this, thank you. We still have our house but now have a lot of uncertainty in our lives. This will help our family.”

Carlos asks to be photographed with his parcel. Their situation is a little brighter than that of their neighbours, who lost their source of income when Haiyan washed their rice and vegetable fields away, smashed their fishing boats and blew over coconut and banana plantations.

We survived the typhoon but will die of hunger

The NCCP/ACT Alliance convoy of three trucks the convoy of three trucks set off early to make the six hour journey to the spot the typhoon made landfall. Access to remote areas is continually improving but the roads are rough. The convoy takes a mountain pass that is badly potholed, being repaired or – closer to ground zero – was stripped away by the typhoon waves. One vehicle has minor mechanical problems and another gets a flat tyre. At the towns, the vehicles must weave through the mounds of debris, over-turned vehicles and building crumbled buildings to reach distribution points.

The convoy is under armed guard from Philippine army reservists. One convoy was hijacked a week ago. The likelihood now is remote but they take the precaution.

Entering towns, people call out that they need food and drinking water. Children shout ‘relief, relief’ and ‘go, go’ as a truck passes. Cries for help are painted on the road for aircraft and vehicles. One sign says that people survived the typhoon but will die of hunger.

In built-up towns, debris is everywhere among ruined buildings, with people trying to salvage what they can and hope for assistance from outside for their next meal.

The ACT Alliance appeal is funded to 30 percent. However, it needs full funding to meet the needs of the nearly 300,000 people ACT Alliance members plan to assist.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Packages of Relief – and Love