Standing after a storm

Barely a month after the killer 7.2magnitude earthquake in Visayas, the region has faced another calamity — super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). Dubbed as one of the strongest typhoons to hit the face of the earth, Yolanda has left thousands of deaths and indescribable havoc to physical properties, particularly in the provinces of Leyte, Cebu and Samar.

President Noynoy Aquino has already declared a state of national calamity to more speedily address the needs of the victims. The government, private sectors and international agencies are all in full force to help in the rescue and relief operations, concentrating on the basic needs of food, water and clothing.

It pains in the heart that the victims have to endure so much more, in addition to losing their loved ones. Many residents are still unfound while those that died are still to be identified. Google has already launched a Person Finder mechanism in order to help ease the worries of families at a loss of each other’s whereabouts. Unfortunately, the communication lines are still being repaired albeit already partly functional.

There has also been severe damage to infrastructure — from the smallest of houses made of lightest materials to taller buildings. Nothing was spared. The survivors of the typhoon are obviously homeless. The schools which were supposedly their temporary shelter are also badly damaged.

Hunger has befallen. While the victims may have kept some money to feed themselves, there are no stores where food is available. This has, depressingly, led to looting — they have destroyed the doors of the malls and got everything they could from freezers to grocery items and clothing; they have also opened the tanks of gasoline stations for kerosene.

These scenarios may seem straight out of an apocalypse film but they are real.

The Filipino spirit is resilient — we can get by with anything. But at this point, it is hard to rely on resilience alone. The people need factual HELP, and it is a great consolation that many are willing to give that.

It may be easy for anyone to say that the survivors can eventually get through these hardest times, but not if you are in their shoes. It would take time — until bridges, roads and houses are rebuilt; fallen trees replaced by new shrubs; and people learn to HOPE again. ‘Til then, we can only PRAY.