TACLOBAN CITY— One year ago, the world of millions of people has turned upside down when Supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan) brought a tsunami-like storm surges over central Philippines. The typhoon killed more than 6,000 people, drowned low-lying communities, displaced 4.1 million people and caused an estimated P89 billion in damage.
The typhoon, one of the strongest ever to make landfall on November 8, brought a deluge of physical, financial and emotional hardships for millions of people, especially of those living in the coastal areas.
Victoriano Bechachino, 44, a fisherman who has eight children, is among millions of people who are still in a state of shock and reeling from the aftereffects of the typhoon. He said he would never forget how one fateful day changed his life and the landscape of his coastal neighborhood in Barangay 88.
“ It’s heartbreaking. How could I forget the day when I and my family stood in the waters for hours How could you bear to see your neighbors, mostly children being swept away by strong current of water? All I was able to do at that time is to hold on to my wife and kids tight,” Bechachino said as wave of emotions came over him recalling the tragic event. “ The typhoon made our lives unbearable as we struggle everyday to make ends meet even one year has passed.”
Bechachino, who leads the so-called internally displaced people of Barangay 88, is one of the more than 24,780 people still living in tents, bunkhouses and transitional shelters. He and his family were assigned to a small transitional shelter made from coco lumber in Barangay Sto Nino, located far north of Tacloban.
Bechachino said he visits the old neighborhood once in awhile, watching over the spot where their flimsy shack once stood. “ It was unimaginable,” he said.
Indeed, looking at Haiyan’s aftermath, lives were changed, shattered or lost. Every corner of the streets of Tacloban are still filled with debris, some of the business establishments remain closed, makeshift houses were being rebuilt along the coastlines, some families still live in tents and bodies are still being recovered.
Pointing fingers on rehabilitation
On October 29, nearly a year after Haiyan, President Benigno Aquino III signed the P170.7 billion or $3.94 billion comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery plan for Haiyan-hit areas. More than 18,000 projects are listed in the plan to rebuild housing, social services and public infrastructures in 171 affected cities and municipalities in 14 provinces and six regions in central Philippines.
Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR) Panfilo Lacson blamed Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez for the slow pace of rehabilitation in the city.
Saying that the city’s performance in rehabilitation and recovery efforts was “below par”, Lacson stressed that the “rate of recovery of local governments depends on differect factors including attitude and political will.”
Citing the PARR report, Lacson said Tacloban got P6.1 billion assistance and received more than P230 million from the Department of Interior and Local Government for the repairs of the city hall, public markets and other government structures.
“ We will continue to extend our hand of cooperation to the mayor of Tacloban, we will not give up on Tacloban,” Lacson said.
Earlier, Lacson said that by April next year, the city would receive 12,500 permanent houses from the National Housing Authority (NHA). More than 1.4 million families need permanent housing in the typhoon-hit Visayas region.
Romualdez on the other hand, said the region is still struggling to get back to its feet and that politics must be set aside.
“ It will take a long process to build back the lives of the people better, regain robust economic activities, reconstruct infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, bridges and permanent housing for thousands of people left homeless,” Romualdez said.
The mayor said he realized the importance of disaster risk management and collaboration with other government agencies in order to be prepared for the next typhoons to come.
“ It will be very difficult for us if we will be hit again by a disaster with this magnitude. That is why we need to collaborate with the national government and other agencies in terms of disaster preparedness, communications, systematic evacuation measures when a typhoon looms,” Romualdez said, adding that a permanent disaster agency must be established in the Philippines.
Andrew Martin, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) in Tacloban, said that one year after Typhoon Haiyan, the government-led response now is focused on recovery and long-term rehabilitation in most affected areas.
“ UN agencies and international and local non-government organizations are now focusing on solutions to provide permanent housing, long-term sustainable livelihoods and disaster preparedness and risk reduction. It is important that all sectors are coordinating as we move forward to full recovery and building community resilience over years ahead,” Martin said.
Many are still homeless
UN-OCHA latest report said that more than 25,000 people living in temporary shelters and bunkhouses still require intersectoral assistance including protection, livelihood support, water, sanitation, hygiene and permanent shelter.
In the typhoon-hit areas, around 95,000 families or 475,000 people are estimated to be living in unsafe or inadequate makeshift shelters, and are considered highly vulnerable because communities at risk and their coping mechanism have diminished and have increased further, the report said.
In the September report of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Typhoon Haiyan caused the largest displacement in the world in 2013 with 4.1 million people, a million more than in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Oceania combined.
The national government said it is planning to construct about 205, 393 permanent houses in the next few years.
But Mayor Romualdez said that presently only 400 permanent houses were constructed.
Ernalin Malguesto, 34, with five children is one of the 60 families living in a temporary shelter located north of Tacloban said she and her husband, a tricycle driver, is contemplating to return to the site of their old home, despite their fears that another typhoon could destroy it again.
“ Condition here is unbearable. We have been here since February and we need to look for livelihood to feed our children. We have been dependent for so long on relief goods to survive,” Malguesto said as she tries to hold back tears.
Many of Malguesto’s neighbors have been forced to return to their old homes or build makeshifts as most of them rely on fishing for livelihood.
However, the national government announced a “no build zone” banning construction of houses within 40 meters of the coastline as a safety measure to prevent casualties in the event of storm surges.
One year on, millions of people still struggle to fathom how one storm surge changed their lives forever. For them, life in their communities has never been the same.
Text and photos by Imelda V. Abano
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