#BangonOrmoc

I guess you probably know the news already for days now. It’s been two weeks since the one of the strongest typhoon had hit my dear country and left hundreds of damages, debris and death. The super typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan hit the Philippines last November 8,2013. The route of the typhoon mostly hit the eastern part of the Visayan island group around 8 in the morning Philippine time. The cities and towns of Leyte including Tacloban, Palo and Ormoc were hit and well chaos turned over leaving also questions to what happen, who to blame and the actions of the national government.

a motivational sign that stood amidst the ruins [pic from instagram]

During the date I was in Cebu at home fresh from my night shift duty. It started raining earlier but was still manageable. The winds got stronger around 10 AM but yeah was reluctant enough to be inside, safe and dry. It lasted 2-3 hours and during the afternoon it mostly drizzled. My brother and I started contacting my folks since we knew that Ormoc is usually passed by typhoons yet no replies or calls since the evening. Didn’t panic yet until the images and video posts emerged from the net later that night, then I was getting worried.
 
The feeling of panic when you can’t contact from your loved ones from more than 24 hours is a torture. It’s like a fucked up time bomb. Your mind creeping to things morbid. I despise it. Still can remember those three days without any news from them, mostly images and videos from reporters weren’t helping. I was able to contact one aunt but was weak due to some family issues they have so still no idea if my folks were ok.

 
Finally my father replied with “Ok ra mi but wala na atop” (We’re fine but we have no roof). It did sounded like my father so yeah it was great to hear from them. I was then able to contact the rest of the relatives hours later. My parents were chill enough but my aunts weren’t, some of them sounded panicky. You don’t want to sit next to a panicky person, sucks big time and contagious too. Thanks to them, I was on a frenzied mode of helping out and just be at home straight away. My parents were against it but I insisted. I was torn between going home or not since rumors of looting during ship docking spread like wild fire. It made me angry hearing some of it. According to the media, Tacloban was a war zone filled with people that were desperate for survival even led to some killings and rape. I don’t know it was a shocker but knowing mostly Tacloban people have this “indifferent” attitude I guess. Don’t get me wrong, I have friends who are Warays (People of Tacloban due to the dialect they spoke) but mostly they have this ego which I don’t like to describe it further. Yet these people are peace loving.

Together with the brother, we headed to Ormoc day 5 after the Yolanda incident.

the pier and first shot when I arrived

the city park [ pic from twitter]

the roofless city terminal which is located near the pier [pic from twitter]

The port and the pier looked like a giant garbage wasteland from the docks. No trees, everything was a mess icluding the park and the heat was killing it. The city was even more devastating to look at seeing that every structure, house or commercial space, was a victim. good thing they opened the fire hydrants around the area for water . The wet market along with some grocery stores were on business but with limited time due to no electtricity. Banks were slowly having transactions during day 6 after yolanda.

view from the neighborhood in Mejia

my house with the brother on the it

the neighbor's house across the street

During the night, it was creepily quite. Although we have the moon to shed some light on, the city was awkwardly silent. Some fire hydrants had this scheduled availability for water so mostly my job was to bring water and the schedule was around 7 in the evening, yep dark.

my grandmother's home in Linao which was blocked by trees

inside my grandmother's home, the floor covered in water

There were lines everywhere if you want to buy anything from grocery, hardware and gasoline but mostly Ormocanons were patient enough. People were manageable I guess since the former typhoon Uring (Ormoc Flash Flood) which hit Ormoc last November 5, 1991 was heavier. Uring swept the city with floods that left 5 thousand killed. After that, bridges and dams were maximized and ever since no heavy floods have been reported. People told me that Yolanda was stronger  and more destructive than Uring but the casualties were only 30. They were ready enough and my folks survived it.

the waiting line on Gaisano Riverside, a mall and grocery store

the city Maternity Hospital which was perished

trees torn down along the gates of the city church

The only unruly settlement was the relief goods. Its been 6 days since the typhoon and not a batch of relief goods came. The media and some people were in desperate for help and thus came the questions of the unfit from the national government.  It took a week for the goods to arrive in Ormoc.

I hate politics but it was too much. The president was mostly blaming the local governments in Leyte of the unpreparedness. The people were prepared but didn’t expect of how strong it was. Reasons behind delayed of the goods were due to the DSWD who again repacks them with seals from elected officers where in fact the people were the one who brought them, not having enough vehicles to bring the goods where in fact during last election, the candidates were able to reach the smallest roads with their campaign and just keeping the goods on factories until they were spoiled or perished due to rain.  Some of the officials had made a fool of themselves against international medias like CNN and BBC. The interviews led to how dirty Philippine Politics is and made some unruly responses from Filipinos across the world. It’s about time for the whole world to know and yes I guess they were challenged big time. They were loads of issues being raised but then our own media can be biased against it all.

There were hundreds of people from northern Leyte fled to safer cities like Cebu and Manila. Every terminal and dock were packed with people. Even when we were leaving for Cebu, the pier had become an evacuation center for some waiting for the scheduled boats to arrive.

people scavenge for electricity to contact their loved ones [pic from child fund]

Spent just 3 days at home but I wasn’t that devastated. I witnessed the people I came from are stronger and that the goodness of humanity still exist. Ormoc may not be a glamorous city but its people have strong fighting spirits. Even under the heat and finding ways of rebuilding homes, people still managed to joke around and smile. They still also managed to help each other especially on neighboring communities. My photos posted aren’t enough to say how much it felt like being there. To my fellow Ormocanons, I salute you! Survivors twice in the making.