Nothing can really prepare one to witness first-hand the massive damage that was wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in the Visayas region of the Philippines. I had seen hundreds of pictures and dozens of videos before coming here, but they didn’t really convey the full extent of it. I spent three days (January 20-22) touring Tacloban and some of the surrounding areas of Leyte, and took a four-hour trip south to Guiuan in Eastern Samar. The swath of destruction is incredible, going as far as the eye can see in every direction. In fact, the worst part of this “swath” is 200km wide and 675km long, crossing seven unfortunate islands from east to west, but the damage extends even further than that up to a width of 400km.
On November 8, 2013, for most of the day, sustained winds of 235km/hour, with gusts of up to 275km/hour, battered those seven islands and tore off roofs, shattered windows and knocked over buildings. In Leyte and Samar 90% of houses were destroyed, and there is hardly a building unscathed or a tree undamaged. At last count, 14.1 million people are affected, 4.1 million are displaced, 6,200 people lost their lives, 1.1 million houses are damaged or destroyed, and 15 million trees are down or had their tops snapped off or branches stripped away.
It is good to be here, finally, but also very overwhelming. One hardly knows where to begin, but World Renew has begun and will do all it can!
The east side of the Philippines bore the brunt of the storm, and the city of Tacloban in particular was devastated by a 16-foot-deep storm surge which inundated most of the city and then swept back out to sea 15 minutes later, tossing boats and vehicles around like toys and destroying everything in its path on its way inland and then again on its way out. The first floor of nearly every house, store, church, school, government building, warehouse, mall, car dealership and factory was flooded up to or above the ceiling.
There is a huge amount of work to be done here! So far our contribution to the effort is going quite well, thanks to a team of excellent World Renew staff, International Relief Managers and volunteers who have been distributing food and essential household items with the help of the Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines. This week we are doing further work on the long-term livelihoods plan, which will involve replacing fishing boats and rehabilitating agricultural land, and we are developing our long-term housing plan. We hope to be able to provide 1,300 fishing boats and build 1,000 to 2,000 houses, depending on which house design we choose. For the next three days we will be touring the island of Panay, and seeing and experiencing even more pain and loss. It is good to be here, finally, but also very overwhelming. One hardly knows where to begin, but World Renew has begun and will do all it can!
The Filipino people are amazingly cheerful and friendly, and incredibly resourceful and resilient. A tremendous amount of clean-up and reconstruction work has already been done in the last two and a half months, and they are determined to recover. There are numerous signs and T-shirts that say “Bangon Tacloban” or “Bangon Guiuan” – “bangon” meaning “rise up.” The people are also very grateful for the assistance that has been provided, and there are signs posted everywhere saying “Thank You.” We also wish to thank you, our donors, for your tremendous support. It is hugely appreciated, and it is making a difference. Please continue to pray for the people of the Philippines, and for World Renew’s response to this disaster. God has blessed us richly, to be a blessing to those affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
Blessings,