I had a really difficult time narrowing down the photos AND probably spent as much time reminiscing on each picture as actually putting them
together.
In any case, here’s my relatively best effort to present them
in a somewhat organized order in a reasonably timely manner. Some of these photos are from others on my
team, so know that my limited camera phone and I probably aren’t responsible
for the better of the photos here. I’ve
added brief(ish) descriptions below each collage of photos to help explain the
story behind them.
Hope you enjoy, and can get a better feel for the
Philippines through the images below.
Edit: I’ll split the pictures into two blog entries
because of the number of pictures (and wordiness of my descriptions…).
The first five groups are various pictures around Tacloban of
the path of destruction left behind from the typhoon. If you followed the news broadcasts as the
storm occurred, many of the images may look familiar. I’m including them though as this is the
reality for many of the people and places in the pictures following.
The most common type of roof structure I saw in the Philippines was a simple steel support structure with thin sheets of corrugated galvanised iron (CGI for short). As you can see in the photos, not only did the metal sheets not sustain the high winds, but the steel roof structures often were torn apart as well. It seems that on building after building, from small houses to large government offices, to a near brand new convention centre, each roof was just ravaged beyond repair.
These next two collages are of the area immediately north of downtown Tacloban, situated right along the ocean side. This area was among the worst of the worst hit, as the storm surge, which many Filipino’s say raised the ocean level by one and a half stories, would have completely submerged much of the original buildings here.
Even worse for the people who lived here, the Filipino government has implemented a new law aimed at limiting the loss of life and property in future occurrences that states that no new development is allowed within 40m of the shoreline. Essentially, the land which these people live on is no longer inhabitable.
Tyrone, one of our WASH team’s drivers, is one of those affected by the new law. Nearly three months after the storm, he still lives in a tent with his family, unsure of where he will be able to settle and rebuild. I really wish I had a photo of the ever cheerful Tyrone (despite everything he has and continues to endure), but he was out running errands when we were grabbing a couple team photos on my final morning.
The last set shows four ships that the ocean picked up and dropped at varying distances inland. They must have destroyed any buildings in their path, and now rest in the middle of bunches of makeshift tents and structures. When I was there, there were multiple people staring down from the ship’s decks and it wouldn’t surprise me if a number of families have made their temporary residences inside.
I’ve been told that an Israeli company has agreed to buy the ships for scrap metal and will begin the not insignificant process of dismantling these giant wrecks into transportable pieces.
The
next pictures were pulled from the website of the formerly luxuriously grand Oriental
Hotel & Resort. The second group shows
the stark contrast of what now remains after the typhoon. Often times, there is much good from bad, and
while the hotel is out of operation, the property now serves as our warehouse which holds the majority of our non-food inventory, and where at least 50 workers each
day work with our logistics team to prepare and assemble hygiene and shelter
kits for distribution.
I don’t have an exact numbers but I would expect that at least 20,000 kits of some form have been prepared here and been distributed in the communities. The Oriental, as we affectionately call it, has survived to serve the Filipino people well.
Next is the food team, which distributes food on behalf of
the World Food Program along with many of the other large NGO’s serving in the affected areas. While I was there, I
believe these teams were averaging 100 tons of food a day, distributed to
community members. They were also
commended by the WFP as having one of the most successful distribution systems,
a very deserving commendation to a proficient team providing some invaluable assistance.
The shelter team has the incredible challenge of providing a
lofty 10,000 permanent shelters to families who have lost their homes. The typhoon
knocked down an incredible number of coconut trees and while they are now useless
to the coconut farmers, these trees are a plentiful source of material for
which to rebuild homes. As such, the
shelter team has 30 sawyers (with plans to double that) on chainsaws, and
several industrial portable sawmills to cut the lumber required to build 10,000
homes.
As one of the logisticians
commented, this team has by far the most logistically challenging task. What they’ve managed to set in motion in the
first two months has been nothing short of extraordinary.
We also have a nutrition team which is doing great work over
probably the largest area compared to the other teams. But because they were always out and about, I
unfortunately didn’t get a chance to capture any of their work in action. And not to overlook the dedicated base team
consisting of security, human resources, purchasing, accounting, and team leads
which will also regretfully remain faceless (as in I don’t have any [flattering]
pictures of them). Just like the heart
works, this group manages the big and small details that keep each program running and focused on their specific functions.
Now a couple brief pictures of other opportunities where SP
was able to bless others. The first is a
local pastor showing the remains of his church’s Bibles and other books following
the storm. SP was able to provide the
very appreciative pastor with a number of boxes of new Bibles and books to help
replace those destroyed.
Next, I think you may have participated in Operation
Christmas Child by filling one of their distinctive red and green shoeboxes before. A good number of them were sent to the
Philippines this year to be given to children, many who had maybe lost any toys
that they’d owned to the storm.
A cool
story that one Canadian doctor, from Victoria, BC, shared with me (not to
mention the fact that I am so very humbled by his genuine servant attitude and refreshingly
grounded approach to life. But I digress…) So, he was assisting with the
distribution of the OCC shoeboxes in one of the affected areas. This particular
shipment had come from Canada, and when one of the girls opened her box, there
was a picture and message inside from the family that had sent the
box. In short, the doctor got a picture
of the girl with her box, and sent it to his wife back in Canada who was able to search
up the family in Ontario and send a picture of their box’s recipient to
them. Too. Cool.
Moral of the story, include a picture and message in your OCC Shoebox next year! http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/rss/operation-christmas-child/get-involved/operation-christmas-child-packing-your-shoe-boxes.aspx
Moral of the story, include a picture and message in your OCC Shoebox next year! http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/rss/operation-christmas-child/get-involved/operation-christmas-child-packing-your-shoe-boxes.aspx
