We Survived Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)

It’s been a month since my last post and the last time I wrote something was the night we were praying for Typhoon Haiyan/ Yolanda not to come or to at least not be that strong and fierce.

But no. It was really a super typhoon. Never had I thought that the typhoon will cause so much destruction. I know it has been one month already but it seemed like it just happened yesterday. Allow me to tell you our story.

How We Survived Typhoon Haiyan

I didn’t get some sleep while we were monitoring the speed and strength of the typhoon. I was nervous because I feel like a really strong wind would pull our roof off. I fear that my wall would collapse while Bella was sleeping on our bed that is why I would run to the bed every time the wind blows. That was just 5 a.m.

I also kept on updating hubby through text and calls about the speed and strength of the typhoon. He is staying in one of the evacuation centers with his parents. At 6 a.m, the situation was still the same. The wind would blow hard then would stop. It would “woosh” and stop, “whistle” and stop.

Others thought it was already the eye of the storm but I know the worse is yet to come. At 6:30, hubby called and told me to go downstairs. That time, I transferred Bella to my parent’s bedroom because the wind was already scary in our bedroom since we can clearly hear it from the window. When hubby called, I ran down the stairs with Bella. It was the right timing because the ceiling started to rip and we were already downstairs when our roof slowly ripped off from from the trusses.

Then everything happened so fast. It was worse that what I expected.

The glass on our windows started breaking because of the strong wind. My parents were trying to seal the windows but apparently, it is useless. We then stayed on one corner and covered ourselves with a blanket. We were all wet because we do not have a roof anymore and the walls on the second floor area collapesed.

Glass and our furniture were flying everywhere. Leaves, roof, gutters, and just anything went inside our house. My father was even wounded on his left eye because of a glass that flew into his direction. A tall cabinet fell on my mother’s nose and wounded her. She was holding Bella that time. But good thing Bella wasn’t hurt and my mother only got a small wound on her nose. Bella was trembling with fear. I was crying as I saw a tree being thrown right on our window. We can clearly see how the wind whirled and tossed just anything around.

We fear that things will get worse. We went under the stairs as my father instructed. Under our stairs is a small room enclosed with a home bar, which is a bedroom for our maid. We stayed in that room until the wind stopped. I was worried about Bella because she was soaked with water for a long time. But she didn’t cry. She would just listen and watch. She didn’t say anything. I knew she was hungry, afraid and cold.

We stayed in the room until 11:00 a.m. We all prayed for it to end. The sound of the roofs being ripped, glass being thrown to pieces, doors being slammed, trees uprooted, objects flying inside the house, objects rolling down the stairs, and the whistling of the wind were scary.

It felt like tomorrow would never come. I was enveloped with fear and all I did was pray to Jehovah God to save us.

The Aftermath

The news after the storm was very heartbreaking. Many people died. We were oblivious of what happened in Tacloban because there is no means to check the news.

That day, my father and brother left to look for a hotel to stay. But all they saw were dead bodies on the streets, broken buildings and homes. Obviously, no hotel would operate that time. They said there was a storm surge in Tacloban which took so many lives. We were thankful that there wasn’t a storm surge in our village because if the water rose, I don’t know what’s going to happen to us. I might not be writing this blog anymore if a storm surge hit our area.

For 24 hours, we were in complete isolation. No communication. We are all guessing if our relatives and friends are still alive. I don’t even know what happened to hubby and other relatives in Tanauan, Leyte. The second day after the typhoon, hubby came. He walked from Tacloban to Palo for 4 hours. The only way to reach places is by foot because aside from the dead bodies, there are also debris everywhere.

But our experience is nothing compared to those who were reached by the storm surge. My cousins and other relatives needed to stay on the roof trusses to survive. They ate raw noodles because they didn’t have a choice. Other people swam through the waters, clung unto trees, or climbed on roofs. My heart broke into pieces because I was thinking of all the babies and kids. What happened to them when the water went up? It was really terrible.

Our situation is way better than other victims of the typhoon. Our family was complete and safe. We were still able to recover some things. We could acquire food because my father went to a nearby city to buy them. We cannot rely on relief goods alone because it was very very rare in our area. We need to do something in order to live. We stayed in St. Scholastica’s Village, Palo, Leyte for three weeks. We left the place after cleaning and retrieving other belongings.

We needed to leave because things were getting worse. There were stories that some people would steal food and kill the homeowners. Our place was like a ghost town enveloped with fear.

But it was not the dead people that were scary. It was those who were alive and might take our lives in exchange of goods and foods. It was a battle for each one’s life. We could even hear gun shots every now and then. We would hide under the stairs again for fear that a bullet might get into our house. During evenings, my brother and father would stay up late to guard the front door. We have a burglar alarm to make sure no intruder could get in.

Our House After the Typhoon

Aside from the roof and trusses that were destroyed, our wall also collapsed. The images you see above were pictures taken after we have cleaned the debris. We were not able to think of taking pictures after the typhoon.

But like what I said, our condition is still better than those who really lost everything including their houses. You can see my younger brother on the second image where debris from the second floor were placed. Below that picture, (fourth image) was my bedroom.

I can’t imagine how others survived the typhoon especially those living in shanties. Even our two-storey concrete house was not saved from Yolanda’s wrath. We could only use the ground floor area and I’m very thankful because others do not have any shelter at all.

The place we considered home was destroyed but I know that it will soon recover and be restored. We may have left our house but we will return. We may have lost many material possessions but we still have our faith in Jehovah God.

The most important thing is that we are all safe and alive.