Yolanda devastates PH, spurs relief efforts across the country

A man from a community by Laguna Bay tries to clear the shore as the area faces the winds and rain of super typhoon Yolanda during the peak of the tempest last November 8.

Super typhoon Yolanda battered the Philippines last November 8, plowing across a number of offshore towns in the Visayas region while sustaining wind speeds of around 300 kph. By and large, the super typhoon is said to have affected 36 provinces, leaving more than 10,000 people dead according to National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council estimates. Officials fear, however, that the actual figures may be much higher, as casualty counts and recovery operations still continue in several parts of the country.

Yolanda, in images and figures

Yolanda has left around Php 7 million in damages as of press time, according to a Rappler article dated November 10. The actual worth of damages may be higher, however, considering that the devastation in hard-hit Visayan provinces have yet to be accounted for.

Eastern Visayas was, in particular, heavily affected by the super typhoon. In Eastern Samar, the coastal towns of Giporlos and Guiuan have lay in ruins, with eyewitness accounts telling Rappler that at least 95 percent of both towns had been destroyed.

Further west, Leyte has also bore the brunt of the typhoon’s wrath. Southern Leyte Governor Roger Mercado relates in a CNN article that all roads in the province have been rendered impassable because of fallen trees. The lack of aid, he says in another interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel, has even urged several residents to loot ATMs along the area for money.

In severely ravaged Tacloban, reporter Ted Failon reveals to the Inquirer that storm surges around the area were comparable to the 2011 Japan tsunami. The ensuing outpour eventually led to what Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Lt. Jim Alagao calls “total devastation” in a Manila Bulletin article, with landmarks being completely wiped out and dead bodies scattered around the area.

Relief efforts underway

Yolanda had earlier sent media agencies across the globe abuzz, as it made history by being touted as the strongest typhoon to ever make landfall in the world. In preparation for the impending disaster, the international community has pitched in to help those who had been affected by the disaster.

UNICEF has sent around 60 tons of relief goods from its Copenhagen base through airlift, according to an Inquirer article. The United States Embassy, on the other hand, has sent a sum of $100,000 in support of current relief operations, along with US troops and naval assets.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has mobilized its units to ensure the quick delivery of relief goods to affected regions, releasing an additional Php 53 million from the budget on top of the Php 200 million already reserved for emergency purposes. As of press time, DSWD has since provided Php 6.4 million worth of aid to families in Bicol, Western Visayas and Central Visayas.

Along with these efforts, De La Salle Philippines has spearheaded the One La Salle Relief Drive with the hope of gathering donations and recruiting volunteers from the Lasallian community. Concerned individuals can make on-campus, off-campus and web-based donations to the University. Gladstone Cuarteros, one of the program’s coordinators and Coordinator of the Lasallian Justice and Peace Commission, tells The LaSallian that “[DLSP is] still mobilizing donations through the social action offices of [the 16 La Salle] schools.” He laments, though, that while donations keep pouring in, giving them out to the affected areas may prove to be difficult. “We are also looking for contacts in the affected areas since we do not have a school there,” he mentions.

Cuarteros adds that most ground level operations will start Monday, November 11.