SPECIAL REPORT: A year after #YolandaPH

Life is still far from normal for those

who survived super typhoon Yolanda’s fury.

A few days before the first year anniver-sary of the disaster brought by what the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) consi-ders as the strongest typhoon ever recorded, there are still victims living in tents, some businesses have remained closed and there are still government and privately-owned buildings that badly need repair or  renovation. There are still signs of devastation in the affected areas and, the government even does not have the final death toll yet.

Back to normal in Eastern Visayas?

One indication that there is still a long way to go before life becomes normal in the affected areas, especially in Eastern Visayas, is that the cargo ship, MV Eva Jocelyn, that was washed ashore at the height of the typhoon is still very much there.

The Freeman visited barangay Anibong in Tacloban City last week and the vessel was still there, stuck among houses just a few inches away from the natio-nal highway.

Jerry Cagara, 47, who was at his parents’ home a few meters opposite the vessel when The Freeman went to the area, said the ship has to be removed soonest because it endangers not just the homes it destroyed when the storm surge washed it ashore at the height of the typhoon but also the vehicles that pass the highway.

The vessel was carrying around 3,000 bags of cement when authorities did not allow it to sail because of the impending super typhoon last year. It was docked on the bay fronting the Anibong area when the storm surge carried it, smashing through the houses at the coastal community and killing 20 people.

Cagara, who now lives in barangay Nulatula, was relieved to see workers who, he learned, were tasked to find ways to remove the vessel from the area.

“We heard the workers are from Cebu since the owner of the cargo vessel is based in Cebu. It has been two weeks since they started welding. The plan was initially to pull the vessel from the roadside to the sea. But since settlers have rebuilt their homes, the owner decided to instead chop the vessel into pieces so as not to damage the houses around it,” Cagara said.

Housing and livelihood

A visit to the affected areas in the region would also reveal that there are still many families who live in tents and bunkhouses, which are all temporary living quarters.

There are even tent communities in the areas that have been declared as no-build zones.

Tacloban City Councilor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez cited that while the national government extended financial assistance for the repair of the government buildings that were damaged, funding has been scarce for the reconstruction of houses of the typhoon victims who lost their homes. She said that this is evident with the many families who still live in tents even up to now in barangays such as 88 San Jose located near the airport and Anibong.

There are also 76 families who still live in tents at Mahusay Beach, San Jose District, one of the most devastated communities when the storm surge hit last year. The area used to be home to 400 families. The number of settlers was lessened because of the many who died during the storm surge while others moved to other areas in the city.

Councilor Romualdez said the city government wanted to buy more lots to address the lack of relocation sites. “We are trying our best with the little resources that we have. Talagang kulang na kulang. Marami ng changes in some areas but for the people who lost their homes, yun ang wala talaga,” the city councilor said.

Rowena Versoza, 40, lost three of her family members but opted to live in Mahusay Beach, in a tent from the United Nations.

“We tried living there at the bunkhouses. It is very difficult. We decided to return here since our condition is better. We can make money to make ends meet because we can sell food and what not. Unlike if we stay there, our children get sick plus we do not have means of livelihood,” Versoza told The Freeman.

She added that the government keeps on telling them that they have to leave the area because it is within the No Build Zone being a coastal community but no permanent relocation has been offered to them, only temporary bunkhouses.

“We will only leave if the government is sure as to where we will be permanently relocated. And the place has to be accessible and practical. Like, we can earn money to feed our family and the basic utilities are available. Meantime, we will endure contributing P20 per night to fuel the generator set lent to us by the barangay to light our little community here,” Versoza explained.

A similar situation besets another coastal community Barangay Mercado, Basey, Samar.

Barangay councilor Ignacio Llegano emphasized that officials could not force their constituents to stay at the bunkhouses especially since they could not guarantee comfort and livelihood there.

“Their livelihood is here (at the coastal barangay). They can’t stand it there (bunkhouses). Plus there has been no word on the permanent relocation. I cannot blame them. The national government seems to be forgetting about us. They keep on talking about the faults in opponents but could not even look at how we are doing a year after the super typhoon. Our lives have not gotten normal yet and it’s been almost a year,” Llegano said.

Simultaneous to gradually restoring its structures and economy, Ormoc City is also putting its residents in place.

Typhoon Yolanda destroyed at least 24,000 or 90 percent of the houses from all 110 barangays in the city.

Survivors who were left homeless are now being provided with shelters, said Enrique Ca-beros, camp coordinator of the Ormoc City Social Welfare and Development.

With its own funding, as well as that received from the national government and with the help of donors, Caberos said they were able to put up tent houses and la-ter on bunkhouses for the thousands of survivors.

The city has put up two transitional relocation sites in barangays Can-ontog and Concepcion where the survivors were housed temporarily.

Currently, Caberos said they still actually need at least 9,941 shelters for their constituents including those who were already homeless even before the typhoon struck.

As of this week, at least 800 families were living in the bunkhouses in Can-ontog and Concepcion. Can-ontog has 24 units with 24 rooms each, while Concepcion has 22 units, also with 24 rooms per unit.

“Mura siya’g row houses. Ang atong gibuhat, gi-divide nato ang families. Ang families nga dunay upat paubos nga members gitagaan og usa ka kuwarto, while those with five members and up, gitagaan og duha,” said Caberos.

In a visit to the bunkhouses in Can-ontog, The FREEMAN chanced upon the residents helping the contractors do construction work.

Myrna Eisma, camp manager of the Can-ontog bunkhouse, said these residents are actually, in their own little ways like piling bricks, helping build another temporary but stronger shelter located in Barangay Liloan. Tzu Chi Foundation is funding the construction of at least 2,000 shelters.

“Kanang bricks nga  ilang  gitrabaho, para ra man sad  sa ilang house na balhinan. Voluntary na, wa’y bayad. Naa man tay 25 kilos of rice ipanghatag per family every month, but kitaon sa namo if nanglihok sila. This is called food for work,” said Eisma.

Normal activities seen in a barangay are also present in Can-ontog bunkhouse, said Eisma.

“Naa sad sila’y activities diri like a normal community gud. Kung maninda sila, pasagdan lang sad namo. Gikan lang gani sad mi nagpa-mass wedding sa 19 ka-couples last month. Aligre sad ‘to diri,” said Eisma.

A daycare center was also established in the bunkhouse while those attending high school and college had to walk or travel eve-ryday. Occupants get to avail of free water and electricity, too. Ambulances are also on standby for those who get sick. But rules and regulations are also being imposed in the bunkhouse, while police personnel are also stationed to ensure peace and order in the area.

“Pampered lagi ni sila diri,” she said, adding that many want to live in the bunkhouses.

“But dili tanan ma-accommodate, so kini sila gipang-refer ni sa mga barangay officials, labi na g’yud tong nagpuyo duol na gyud sa dagat,” Eisma further shared.

World Vision, another organization, also provided 2,000 hou-ses to survivors living in the different barangays.

Caberos said they are still waiting for the funding from the Emergency Shelter Assistance that the national government promised to give. The Office of the Civil Defense also has yet to provide the standard P10,000 financial assistance to the families who lost their loved ones to the calamity.

If he is to assess, Caberos said Ormoc City has not yet fully recovered.

“Fully recovered if tanan nakabalik na sa iyang normal na panginabuhi. But if tan-awon gyud ang data, wala pa, kulang pa. Nagkinahanglan pa ta og tabang,” he said.

Business and tourism

At least 4,800 or one third of the more than 11,800 businesses in Tacloban City have reopened as of middle of October, according to Oliver Cam, point person for Trade, Industry and ICT of the Eastern Visayas and Leyte Chambers of Commerce & Industry.

Cam said the figure excludes transport operators like tricycle and jeepney drivers.

“We’ve been saying since the first two weeks after the typhoon, we really need low cost financing. A lot of establishments have not yet reopened. Even though the Department of Trade and Industry has offered soft loans at P2 million and collateral free to each company, it has only limited coverage,” said Cam.

Large companies like restaurants, hotels and construction, which are heavily in demand, have already recovered but others, especially the services and trading, which are actually the main economic activities in the city, are still closed because of financial constraints, added Cam.

The famous landmark of Leyte, the MacArthur Memorial Shrine, was not spared from the wrath of Yolanda after one of its statues collapsed.

The super typhoon also de-vastated the centuries-old Immaculate Conception Church and the surfing area of Calicoan Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar; the beach resorts in Marabut, Samar; and the thick mangrove forest of Tabuk Marine Park and Kalanggaman Island of Palompon, Leyte.

Department of Tourism Region 8 director Karen Tiopes admitted that some people lost their jobs with the closure of severely-damaged tourism enterprises. The super typhoon also destroyed the tourism facilities and two of the region’s largest convention centers that led to the loss of business and livelihood opportunities for the people.

She, however, said that the tourism industry was able to provide employment back to the community at the early stage of reco-very in the region.

The ongoing runway repair of the Daniel Z. Romualdez airport in Tacloban City has also translated to fewer air seats, higher cost of air fare and longer travel time for those who want to visit the region.

“While this is temporary, it has greatly affected accessibility to our region and is taking its toll on our arrivals,” Tiopes said, adding that the Tacloban airport was referred to as the seventh busiest airport in the country before the storm.

Amid the struggles brought about by the monster typhoon, the regional director said that the tourism industry in Eastern Visayas is back on its feet.

“Many said that the tourism sector in Eastern Visayas was swept along with the surge of Yolanda but we proved them wrong. In fact, we came out as the most resilient industry,” she said.

About 50 percent of the hotels in Tacloban and Ormoc had to resume operations a week after the storm given the high demand for accommodation facilities by humanitarian groups and international non-government organizations.

The demand for restaurants and transport services and even the pasalubong centers also remains high.

 “Today, most of the tourism-related businesses affected by the typhoon are back to business. Se-veral new ones even opened up. We can surely say we are walking along the path to recovery,” Tiopes said.

What seemed to be tragic for the region turned out to be an opportunity for Eastern Visayas to earn international media mileage. Even domestic and foreign volunteers who came to help typhoon victims expressed their intent to come back in better times.

At present, the tourism department is currently working out to rebuild its image as a safe travel destination, ready to cater to tourists.

She added that there are still other tourist attractions in Eastern Visayas that were not affected by the storm such as the dive sites in Sogod Bay, Southern Leyte, island destinations in Northern Samar, Biliran and northwestern part of Leyte and adventure sites in Samar.

Tiopes remained optimistic that the tourism performance of the region will still be high despite the calamity since the occupancy rate of hotels has been consistently high this year.

She also mentioned the overall inbound and outbound passengers of the Tacloban airport for the first semester of 2014 that summed up to 611,397 with a daily average of 2,911 passengers.

Last year, the total tourist arrivals reached to 709,498, which was 44.65 percent higher than the 490,472 visitor arrivals recorded in 2012. The 2013 figure also exceeded the 568,863 target arrivals for the year.

North Cebu’s Road to Recovery

Almost a year after Yolanda devastated some areas in north Cebu, local government units are still not getting enough help from the national government.

In the town of Sante Fe, at least 3,000 shelters are needed to house the affected families.

Santa Fe Mayor Jose Esgana admitted that the road to recovery has not been easy, saying that there are families still living in tents especially in Hilantagaan Island and Kinatarkan.

He said that at least 30 to 40 percent of the 30,000 population in the municipality are still living in tents, adding that they are still updating and validating their data because there are islets that have not gotten any help from the national government.

Esgana said that tents are supposedly good for six months and it saddens him seeing his consti-tuents living in tents a year after the destructive typhoon.

“Apil ko sa mga constituents namo nga nanghinaot nga naay assurance ang national government nga mapadali ang assistance pero nakasabot ta sa delay kay tungod sa proseso, ang amoa lang unta naay assurance nga maabot gyud,” he said.

He said that other families have rebuilt their own houses by availing of loans.

Esgana hopes the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the National Housing Authority, and other national agencies would release the shelter assistance to these families because he is worried about the families who are still living along the 40-meter-no-build-zones.

In the town of Bantayan, Ma-yor Ian Christopher Escario said that at least 6,000 individuals need shelter assistance.

“Maluoy unta sila (government) sa mga tao nga nangutang para makatukod og balay, dapat dili na nila dugayon ang assistance,” he said. “Pareho anang naa nagpuyo 20-meter-easement sa dagat, dili ta makapugong og pa patukod diha kay wala pa man tay relocation site,” he added.

Escario revealed that there are still barangays in the municipality that do not have stable power supply such as barangays Bo-tigues, Doong, Lipayran and Hilotongan.

He said that his town has received P26 million from the national government and the money was used for the repair and reconstruction of the municipal hall, gym, public market, among others.

In the town of San Remigio, Mayor Mariano Martinez said that the town is slowly recovering from the wrath of the super typhoon.

Martinez said that about 90 percent has been rehabilitated in terms of infrastructure. In terms of shelter recovery, he said that the town has recovered 20 to 30 percent.

“Wala gyod ko ni-allow og tents kay para nako, ang tent maguba ra gyod pila ka months and we want to build better maong I just asked for GI sheets (galvanized iron sheets),” he said.

Just like other towns, he said that the municipality has yet to receive housing and shelter assistance from the national government.

In the town of Madridejos, Mayor Salvador Dela Fuente reported that more than 600 houses need to be relocated since these are within the danger zone.

The town has identified two-hectare land as relocation site that would cover 300 houses but construction is pending yet, waiting for the fund from the NHA.

 “We are still working kung unsa pay matabang sa government ngadto sa mga tawo. We are still on the process of following up. So far naglihok ta. Paabot lang gyud,” he said.

Carmelita Alarde, 57, of barangay Tarong, Madridejos, said that they are still living in tents a year after the super typhoon destroyed their house.

“Sige man sila (government) og panaad nga naa nami’y ba-lay pero hangtod karon wala gihapon, guba nalang kaayo among tent,” she said, adding that her family has not moved on.

Ariel Villacarlos, a father of two and resident of the same barangay, expects to celebrate Christmas in the tent donated by a private organization after his house was destroyed by the typhoon.

“Kung uwan, magtulo pa, magkuko ang mga bata. Naanad na man sab ta ana,” he told The FREEMAN.

Villacarlos already received the P10,000 assistance from the municipal government but he still could not build a house because the amount is just not enough.

At the Bunakan Integrated School in Madridejos, students of Grade 7 and 8 have to share a classroom that still has no electricity.

Jennifer Dacay, a teacher there, said one classroom is being shared by two sections, one for morning session and another one for the afternoon. Around 40 students in every session have to fit in one classroom that also serves as faculty room for teachers.

“Kung magleksyon ang usa ka maestro, mahulog na lang pud mi og observers,” she added.

She told The FREEMAN that while the school is waiting for a private organization that pledged to construct new classrooms, they have to implement the 30-minute-per-subject scheme.

Rosemelyn Gonzales, also a teacher at the school, said they have to start the morning session as early as 7 a.m. until 12 noon while the afternoon session starts at 12 noon until 4:30 in the afternoon, then another 30-minute remedial class will follow.

“Samtang naniudto mi, manulod na pod ang mga estudyante. Usahay hatagan namo sila og activity ba ron aron makakaon mi kadali,” she said.

Dacay said the absence of electricity has affected class activities, as well as the quality of learning.

“Imbis naa unta mi ipakita nga slideshow pero wa may kur-yente. Lisod kaayo mohimo og activity nga mogamit og kuryente,” she said.

Department of Education- Cebu Province reported that a total of 874 classrooms were devastated by the typhoon.

DepEd Undersecretary Mario Deriquito, during a visit to the province earlier, reported that 20,000 classrooms were damaged by Yolanda. He said 95 percent of the classrooms that have to be reconstructed already have funding, 45 percent of which is from the private sector.

However, only 45 percent of the classrooms that needed repair can be covered by the available funds.

“Ang construction merong ongoing, complete, and pino-procure pa lang,” he said, adding that a status report will be released on November 8, the anniversary of the typhoon.

In terms of livelihood, the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office (DA-RFO) 7 has given assistance to 15, 000 farmers in north Cebu.

DA-RFO7 Regional Disaster Rehabilitation Task Force has reported that at least P1.194 billion was the total value of the damage to various crops, livestock, and poultry in affected municipalities namely, Bantayan, Bogo, Borbon, Daanbantayan, Medellin, San Remigio, Sogod, Tuburan, Tabuelan, Madridejos, Sta. Fe, Bantayan, Pilar, Poro, San Francisco and Tudela.

DA-7 Regional Executive Director Angel Enriquez said that at least P132,145,402 has been allocated for funding of the rehabilitation. The money comes from the DA-7 savings, as well as the Reconstruction Assistance for Yolanda programs approved by the Department of Budget and Management. — /QSB (FREEMAN)