Eight years after, super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) leaves a bitter memory that can’t just be easily forgotten, even as most of the survivors are yet to get back to their normal lives further exacerbated by the pandemic that struck since December 2019.
EIGHT years after super storm Yolanda (international name Haiyan) ravaged Eastern Visayas, the survivors of those missing or dead -the previous death toll was placed at 6,000 to 8,000- are still going through the tedious DNA process to identify their loved ones.
“Di pa rin natatapos,” said Tacloban City Vice Mayor Jerry Yaokasin to ABSCBN.
Some bereaved families remain hopeful that their departed or missing loved ones can either be identified or located.
No closure
"That's the call of the bereaved families, kasi walang closure eh until and unless you are able to locate finally (or) get kahit bones na lang nila, to be able to find a resting place for the families they've lost during super typhoon Yolanda."
(They won't have closure until and unless you are able to locate finally or retrieve even just the bones of the dead or missing.)
Majority of the more than 7,300 dead and missing from Yolanda’s wrath are from Tacloban City, mainly perishing from the storm surge that struck coastal communities there. Around 6,000 bodies were buried at the city's mass grave, another local official previously said.
Yolanda packed maximum sustained winds of 235 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 275 kph when it first made landfall in Guiuan, Eastern Samar and swept through the rest of the country's central regions westward.
Total destruction
It destroyed more than a million houses, and damaged infrastructure and agriculture, among others, worth almost P90 billion, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
500 dead children
At a commemorative event at the Holy Cross Memorial Gardens in Tacloban City, Mayor Alfred Romualdez said among those who died in Tacloban were some 500 children.
"It was very difficult. Many parents, lumalapit sa akin: 'Anong klaseng Diyos 'yan? Bakit 500 na mga bata, pati yun namatay?', he said.
“Alam n'yo, pinagdasal ko nang pinagdasal 'yun. At pumasok talaga sa isip ko sa pagdadasal ko, hindi miracle na tayo'y nabuhay kasi balang araw, lahat tayo mamamatay. It is a miracle that when you die, you go to heaven because that is the true grace of God," he added.
Many authorities believe that those still unaccounted for could be over 1,000.
Continuing hardships
While some of those who lost their loved ones have yet to find closure, some survivors are also beset with hardships in their living conditions post-Yolanda, the vice mayor said.
This, despite the outpouring of support from government, the private sector, non-government organizations, and foreign governments and institutions, for which, he said, Tacloban is very thankful.
Yaokasin shared that a couple he met at the mass grave on Monday afternoon asked for housing as they continue to live in an area declared as a danger zone.
Inadequate housing
Some resettlement site units, he said, remain unoccupied, while some have no water supply.
Some families who were transferred there also complain about lack of livelihood.
Those that were built much earlier were later confronted with problems on drainage system and electricity supply, he said.
"You see all these sorts of problems cropping up, wherein you are a victim twice over. Na-Yolanda ka na nga eh, biktima ka pa rin. That is so sad, whether it's government incompetence or the slow pace because of bureaucratic red tape, or whatever," Yaokasin said.
Challenge
"I think it's a continuing challenge for many dun sa (in our) resettlement sites... It's a continuing challenge for LGUs, how do we build back better."
"Sabi nga nila sa akin, kahit na man lang mabigyan kami ng pabahay, it would ease a little bit of what we went through," he continued.
Yaokasin said commemorative events for Yolanda provide opportunities for them to air what concerned agencies need to do to address the problem of survivors.
The COVID-19 pandemic that began early last year may have made "matters worse" as far as the recovery of some survivors is concerned.
Tags: #Tacloban, #EasternVisayas, #Yolanda, #bittermemories, #8yearsafter