“I did not want to leave my parishioners but when the wind took away the roof of my house and destroyed the windows, I had to get away,” said Father José Taz Lasola from the mission Padre Pio in Roxas on the island of Panay, one of the areas most seriously affected by the typhoon Haiyan.
He is standing in a place where his wooden and bamboo church stood just a few days ago. Father José cannot fight his emotions when he looks at a destroyed statue of a saint. Nothing can be saved.
“My parish is strong and united, there are 800 parishioners,” he says. “The families are busy building shelters from the remnants of their houses but the volunteers have come to help clean the place. They want to build the church again, as a place of gathering and as a proof of unity. But first, the families need a roof over their heads and to continue in their work.”
Father Mark Granflor, director of the department of social activities of the archdiocese of Capiz (the diocesan Caritas), discovers the extent of the damage. “Tacloban and the island of Leyte were the focus of the media, but the island of Panay must not be forgotten. Here the families were also very heavily affected - more than 147,000 people. When you look around, you can see that the people need help,” he says.
In the coastal areas of Roxas and in the town of Panay almost all houses have been severely damaged. When it starts raining, the children play among the remnants of the fishing boats. Fishing is one of the main sources of income in this area. As in other parts of the Philippines, the fishermen lost their boats and nets.
Father Mark says, “Nothing can break their spirit. Yesterday, I met a fisherman and when I asked him whether he needed anything, he said that he did not and that everything would be okay. Of course, he lost his home and his boat but his neighbour, who was luckier, lent him his own boat, when he finished fishing. Thus, the fisherman was able to go fishing, he brought fish for his family and he sold some of them and started getting on his feet again.”
This is one of many stories that illustrate the courage and resilience of the victims of typhoon Haiyan. “These people may have lost their homes and clothes but they have not lost their dignity,” says Father Mark.
Workers from the department of social activities of the archdiocese of Capiz travelled to the most distant areas in order to assess the extent of the damage caused by the typhoon and the needs of the inhabitants.
The volunteer teams promptly prepared sacks with food and clothes for distribution. Shella and James offered themselves immediately as volunteers. While James fills two trucks with food, which will be distributed during the day, Shella prepares bags with clothes for another truck, which will leave the next day.
“Helping other people makes me feel good,” Shella says. “I feel useful and I do not think of what I have lost. You can always meet someone who has lost more than you.”
The trucks are loaded and they are sent to the people behind the town of Panay. Along the journey, the farmers are already working their rice fields. “Agriculture is the second most important activity after fishing,” Father Mark says.
This sector was also badly hit by the typhoon. While rice fields can be restored quite quickly, it will take years for the palm trees and coconut palms to bear fruit again.
People gathered in front of the roofless church. In this community, the leaders of the parish made a list of 250 families that should receive support preferentially. Each family will be entitled to a bucket with three kilos of rice and drinking water.
The distribution proceeds calmly until the sunset. People leave gratefully with a two-day supply of food for their families. They still need support to restore their houses or at least some plastic sheets or ropes to stabilize their shelters.
The next day the same message comes from the community of Linateran, neighbouring the town of Panay.
“My family needs a roof over their heads,” says Alex, a taxi driver, who came to take one bag of clothes from the diocese Caritas. With his little son Prince in his arms, he continues: “When we are able to restore our houses, we will be able to move forward. The conditions are currently very difficult and I am afraid that my son might fall ill.”
Several local inhabitants ask us to visit their neighbourhoods to see dwellings and understand the extent of the damage. We see that all of their houses, in fact, have suffered considerable damage.
In front of her house, Myrna, a mother of four children, is trying to repair a Nipa thatch, traditional roofing made from palm leaves. “We are still lacking everything. We have not received any support from the government,” says Myrna. “But in our village we try to help each other as much as we can. If we have some food, we share what is left with the neighbours. But what can we do with our houses? We do not have any money to buy building material. So we do what we can. All the aid you bring us is welcome.”
This week Caritas Philippines will receive 13,000 tarpaulins which will be distributed to the affected areas. This consignment will complement thousands of those that have been distributed in the island of Leyte. “It is true that Tacloban and the island of Leyte have been devastated,” says Father Mark, “but the typhoon also struck other regions. It seems that they were forgotten. People are also suffering there.”
Despite great solidarity, which unites them, those who survived typhoon Haiyan rely only on international aid in hope and consolation. It is this support that must be provided in all areas affected by the catastrophe. That is what the individual members of the Caritas network are striving to do.
The initial photograph: Father Mark Granflor, the director of the department of social activities of the archdiocese of Capiz (diocese Caritas), providing food aid.
Author of the article and the photograph: Ryan Worms from Caritas Internationalis
Original text was taken from Caritas Internationalis.