Yolanda

As many of you are aware, typhoon Yolanda (as it's referred to in the Philippines) touched down about 2 weeks ago. I was not directly hit by it, just a heavy wind and rain for about 5 minutes, but quite a few close volunteer friends of mine had been consolidated to Tacloban City (the city hit hardest) and other areas in the path of the typhoon. This happened Friday, November 8. On Saturday, all communication lines to the affected areas were down so there was no news about how bad the storm had really hit. Communication being down isn't a completely unusual occurrence since Philippine power lines and cell towers are kind of all over the place. So since there was no news, the country just went on with life like normal on Saturday.

On Sunday, we saw the first news stories, and it was devastating. Peace Corps had been sending us texts keeping us informed about our fellow volunteers as news came in. Sunday and Monday were the most emotional days for me. First not knowing if my friends had survived the horrors the news was showing us; then knowing that they were physically okay, but not knowing emotionally how they were handling everything; and then finally hearing what they had seen and experienced. I later heard their hotel had been flooded to the second floor by the storm surge and the wind had blown all the windows out. They had to search for food and water since supplies was low and had been soaking wet and without sleep for 2 days. They had no means of communicating with the outside world, and therefore no way of knowing if they would be rescued. Survival mode in its finest. Early Sunday morning, the 12 that were consolidated at the hotel trekked 3 hrs through the destroyed city, past dead bodies and rubble, to get to the airport where they were crammed on a military C-130 with other refugees and eventually flown to Manila.

I can't even imagine what they've gone through and what they will have to live with the rest of their lives, but even from a bystander's perspective, I have changed. In the past whenever there are natural disasters and victims shown on the news, I've been able to stay emotionally detached and not feel too burdened by the trauma shown. Now I will have something to relate it to and will always feel the desire to help in some way.

On Sunday, when the news was showing us the trauma of Tacloban, I wandered the market in Siaton, trying to find some way to help. I couldn't find anything and was very disheartened by the fact that no one in my community seemed to care that half their country was suffering. However, in the next couple days I began to hear of more and more relief efforts from Siaton and surrounding areas. It hadn't crossed my mind that it would actually take time to set up relief efforts. So many people were either helping make relief packages or donating money or food, the communities were really standing together. This past Monday I was able to help pack relief bags of rice, water, and other food with some of the other volunteers in my area. Together with some of the Philippines military and other Filipino volunteers, we put together more than 2,000 relief packages of food to send! And this was just one group in one city. I've heard of so many people helping and giving, it makes my heart warm.

The impression I've gotten from those in the States is that this typhoon was pretty widely publicized, and I'm so glad this happened. The world needs to understand all the natural disasters the Philippines puts up with on a regular basis. Since I've been in the Philippines I've experienced 2 flood-worthy typhoons, one super typhoon (Yolanda), and a 7.2 earthquake; and it's only been 4 and a half months! Also, take note that Yolanda starts with a “Y.” That means by this point there had already been 25 typhoons in the Philippines THIS YEAR!! I honestly don't know how Filipinos can handle the huge beating Mother Nature gives them. There's a reason why Filipinos are known as resilient. If anyone's looking for a good book to read, check out Plundering Paradise: The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines. I just started it, but it's a really good eye-opener for everything that's affecting the environment here.

Also, if you haven't donated any money to help the recovery process here, please consider it!!! The American dollar goes so far in the Philippines!! I don't know any rates for how far donations can go, but just imagine this: I can go SCUBA diving for a little over $20 (which is 1,000 pesos). So really, if you just gave $10 you could probably feed a family for a week or two (I'm probably way off on that estimate, no idea whether it's high or low so don't quote me, but you get the idea). PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!! Okay, I'm done asking for money now :)