Surviving Haiyan

Surviving Haiyan

Day 1:  As usual, Tatay and I woke up around 4am and had coffee.  Heavy rain was already coming along with the strong winds.  I woke up my wife and 2 children who were with us so we could pray the rosary together after we secured our windows and doors.  But the ceiling was already leaking water that I told Tatay to go inside our room because it was the safest area in the house.  Without turning his back he muttered:  Don't go inside the water is here already.  I did not realize then that flood had came in as I was on my wheelchair.  I looked at our jalousie windows and saw the water level outside was already half of our house.  Tatay didn't seem to know what to do at this point and may have been shocked to see what was happening.  So I took charge and asked Tatay to try opening the main sliding door, but it didn't budge.  I asked my 14 year old eldest son to quickly open the kitchen door so we could escape outside, it was also stuck.  At that moment I was already thinking that this is it, we will all perish as the water level was now waist deep and I was already swimming leaving my wheelchair behind.  The water was swirling around like the inside of a washing machine.  As I looked and thought for ways to save all of us I looked up our ceiling and saw the manhole with its cover flown away.  I pointed it to Tatay and told them to catch a table that was floating around and put a chair on it so we could escape through the ceiling.  I told my 8 year old daughter to go up first then my wife, my eldest son went up after his mother.  Tatay didn't want to go up as he was concerned knowing I won't be able climb with them.  I convinced him, that between us two he was more likely to survive and take care of my family after this.  And besides, I told him, I can swim and I'll just join them when the water reaches the ceiling.  And I did just that.  We were up there from 7am up to 10am when the water subsided.  I asked everybody to jumped down while the water was still waist level to cushion their impact.  But when it was my turn to come down, I have to rappel down using the electric wire in the ceiling.  Mud was knee-deep and everything inside our home were in shambles.  We didn't know what to do, where to start cleaning and how.  We were in danger of being cut from the debris inside as we didn't have footwear, pun intended.  We managed to open our main door but couldn't get out since by now our surroundings were full of debris.  So we just collected and salvaged food and drinkable water inside the house to help survive the uncertainty ahead.  I managed to get out of home around noon time and saw for the first time the devastation brought by Haiyan.  I stayed outside for quite a while wondering if things really happened or was this just a dream, I even managed to slap myself to be sure that I was wide awake and sane enough to understand what just happened to us.  While outside I saw a lot of 'zombies' who didn't know where to go, many were crying looking for loved ones some I know asked me if we all survived and I asked the same of them.  Around 1pm I saw our mayor going down the debris coming from their residence near the airport, with him was his wife, their 2 daughters and a bodyguard with a canine tagging along.  I shouted to him and asked him how he was, he muttered tearily "Pareho pareho tayo".  As he went down the debris there was a military truck on stand by and he asked the soldiers if he can bring them to city hall, a soldier refused telling only that their orders was to proceed to the airport.  The mayor told him, with all these debris no vehicle can go through to the airport.  So the mayor and company continued walking in disbelief( I learned later that Roxas and Gazmin were just ahead in the highway island fronting Coca-Cola plant).  Sometime in the afternoon I saw in the distance my dear friends Ruel & Divina Latoja, in tattered clothes and mismatched footwear, coming out of San Jose district.  They were with their children Aine & Dindin but minus the youngest baby Raphael.  I learned that they lost their only boy as they cling for their lives to the only wall that was left standing in their home a mere 50 meters away from the seashore.  After a quick conversation the family moved along heading to the nearest relative to seek shelter and help.  We decided to stay put for the day and spend another night at home because we didn't know the condition of the rest of Tacloban City.  Many neighbors shared our home, one of the few houses left standing in ground-zero, for the night and most of them were mothers nursing babies and little children.  Two beds in our room were dry as it probably floated during the flood, these became the sleeping beds for Tatay and my own family.  Me, I stayed in the sala with the people who took shelter with us and slept on an old 'baol'.  Around midnight there was chaos outside and people were shouting: tsunami, tsunami, I called on Tatay and told him that it could not be since there was no earthquake.  So we stayed put while people outside trekked to the hills of Tacloban.  I took my nap but kept alert for anything that might happen.

Day 2:  We shared some food for those who took shelter with us but these people decided to get out, look for surviving family members and try to rebuild from the ruins of their homes or evacuate immediately.  Amidst the debris outside I saw my son's bike and asked him to get it so we could clean, oil and use it to ask for help from relatives.  There was no means of communication anymore except by word of mouth from passersby.  I learned that the rest of Tacloban did not know what happened at ground-zero.  I asked my son to go the nearest relative possibly unaffected by the flood and ask for dry clothes and some food.  It took him three hours to travel with our bike for the 3 kilometer distance to my cousin's home.  He had to carry the bike to go over trees and posts along the way.  With fresh clothes from my cousin we decided our next move as at this time rotting bodies around were already stinking, the nearest to us were 3 dead children just across our home and many more along the roads.  Our other child, a neophyte seminarian, was on retreat with his class somewhere in northern Leyte and we were worried about him.  Since I am unable to go mobile on my wheelchair, my wife and daughter went to our parish priest (the now viral online, Fr. Ramil Costibolo) to ask for news on condition of the seminarians.  As he too didn't have any means to communicate he just assured us that Bryan, our son, will be just fine along with the priest-formators who were with them.  And he added that if we ever decide to evacuate Tacloban he'll take care of Bryan if he manage to reach the parish convent.  So that night my cousin from the northern part of Tacloban arrived to fetch us but Tatay won't leave with us because he was afraid our home will be looted and he was trying to salvage important documents.  So it was only my wife and kids that left as I could not leave Tatay alone at home since at this time the looting has started and people around have become unruly maybe due to frustration as no help has arrived yet, our only practical protection at this time was my sea-soaked Glock pistol and a few 'sundang'.

Day 3:  Still trying to clean out the mud but debris outside was higher than our floor level and it was futile in funneling out the mud inside the house.  Our parish priest came by and asked for Tatay (he was member of our PPC) to help comfort the dying survivors sheltered at the parish convent while he was going around blessing the dead and help in any way he can to the surviving parishioners.  Around afternoon I was finally able to convince Tatay to go downtown to his sister's house and spend a more comfortable night there and just walk back home a day after.  As we were about to leave home my cousin's husband, Lolong, arrived with his motorcab and he offered to bring us downtown.  At this same moment our mayor arrived and operated the abandoned payloader himself that was parked outside our home.  He cleared some debris while we followed him towards downtown.  We had a nice hot meal and dry sleep this night as we continuously heard burst of gunfire in the city.

Day 4:  After breakfast, Tatay decided to go back home on foot but with extra water and other provisions on his bag.  I told him I'll just follow home later on the day as I will try to find a way to communicate to my siblings that we survived.  All over downtown were stinking bodies and debris.  I went to my Nanay's side of relatives for a chance to communicate outside but no luck at all.  I then went around to a street with a Globe cellular site to look for a friend who works as an engineer with Globe Telecoms.  He was teary eyed when he saw me because he can't believe I survived as he was able to pass by home early dawn to fix their cellular site at the airport.  He gave me food and offered to bring me to the only operating cellular site in the city at that time outside downtown Tacloban.  It took us an hour to reach the usual 10 minute ride to their facility.  The cellular site ground was elevated that the flood only managed to reach the gate but never inside the small building housing the communication equipment.  The small compound was operating on generator power with people outside charging their mobile phones with an extension wire connected inside.  My engineer-friend, Noel, hurriedly setup the internet wifi and gave me his other phone so I could communicate via the internet and also insert my own sim card I saved from the flood.  I posted my first message on my facebook wall then calls from my siblings and relatives followed.  I learned from them that my only brother was probably in Tacloban now with two carpenters from Cebu and since there was no signal except for this location there was no way to communicate with him (I learned later that he reached home that same hour we left the night before).  After this, my friend with his company's pickup brought me home around noon time.  Tatay was already there and so was my brother and the carpenters.  My wife and kids also were there but we spent the night and the night after at my cousin Doris home in Nula-tula.  My first time to take a bath this night and I drank with Lolong the Johnny Walker I brought from home to help me sleep my worries.

Day 5:  We just spent the day in Nula-tula and sometime in the afternoon another cousin from Samar came looking for us in the neighborhood, it was raining this day.  He brought us grilled bangus and told us that they just came from our home and we should go there at once as Tatay has already agreed to evacuate Tacloban via the airport.  So we arrived home in the afternoon and it was planned to leave 4am the following day.

Day 6:  As we were about to leave home, a firetruck stopped but later on left us when we heard someone said "ayaw hito kay naka wheelchair".  Apparently, I could have been a burden to them on their way to the airport.  We proceeded to the airport in two groups, my family with Tatay and my brother with the carpenters.  We were the first to head out as my brother and carpenters secured the windows and doors at home before locking the gates behind them.  Just before reaching the bridge in our barangay a white pickup with a Chinese-looking family inside stopped and offered a lift to the airport (4 kms away).  With the help of our neighbors we hurriedly boarded the bed of the pickup to our destination.  I thanked the driver of the pickup as we disembarked and asked around where to queue for a flight out of Tacloban.  Since we didn't have tickets, commercial airline was out of the question so we proceeded to lineup for a chance to get on board the PAF C130.  We were refugees in our own city and our stay at the airport was worse than anybody could imagine.  We were treated by the PAF soldiers like POWs as ordered by their CO a COL. JOSE MIRANDILLA.  Whenever a PAF plane arrives we were told by the CO that military dependents were first to board and next the rest of us.  However, inside the airport  were VIPs who were always the first one to board.  We were among those in the front line of the refugees waiting for a ride out of devastation when the CO ordered me and my family to be checked by the PAF doctors outside to validate my obvious disability condition and Tatay's ailment so we could be allowed to board the next flight out.  This was only a scheme of the CO to rid some refugees who were already inside the waiting area for the next flight out.  The young PAF doctor, CPT JUSSEL F PARLAN, who examined us was disgusted over the CO's action and he hurriedly wrote two medical notes stating that Tatay and I were fit to travel.  However, we were not allowed anymore by the CO to be back inside the waiting area for the next flight out instead we were told by him to go to the end of the line outside.  In frustration, my brother talked to another PAF officer in the vicinity and convinced him to allow me and Tatay to be back inside the waiting area.  While inside, two non-pilot officers were discreetly helping us -- CPT Ombao and CPT KALAW, the latter gave us his personal provisions of water and biscuits through another soldier.  CPT Kalaw approached me later to tell me that he was only in-charge of security and it was up to the CO who goes on board the PAF C130.  However, he added, he has asked a US pilot to accommodate us in their aircraft if ever we don't get to board the next PAF plane.  During this time a PAF GENERAL ROMEO POQUIZ passed by tagging along a soldier with DSLR camera, I tried talking to him about our condition but he only ignored me.  At a distance, I observed him wear an elbow sling whenever he was being photographed by the camera-toting soldier.  The airfield, aircraft and us refugees were his backdrops.  We may have been treated badly by some officers of the PAF but the enlisted men, who were merely following orders, were discreetly sympathetic to the refugees with some even sharing their own water provisions.  One of these soldiers was a SGT TOLENTINO.  The big sergeant had a very long patience despite being mocked by an effeminate foul-talking young man who, 'armed and threatening' the soldier with a camera-phone, wanted to get past the cordon of soldiers.  Later at night another PAF officer announced thru a megaphone:  Since the foreign media noticed that we didn't gIve you anything, we are now giving you biscuits and water plus carton to lie on.  Fortunately the night was clear with stars above otherwise we would have been wet in the open.

Day 7:  We woke up early anticipating our turn to fly out when the next PAF plane arrives.   The plane arrived as a soldier searched and led us to hurriedly board the plane with my brother pushing my wheelchair.  We arrived Mactan Airbase less than an hour later and were brought to the military hospital as I was on a wheelchair and Tatay was a senior citizen for standard medical checkup.  But we begged off to be taken inside for checkup as we were anxious for a clean food and place to finally rest.  We hailed a taxi outside the air base and all 6 of us cramped inside, the driver understandably took us despite our smell and dirt.  We first went to a McDonalds drive thru for food then proceeded  to my brother's apartment.  Our first day outside Tacloban.