Yolanda?

January 7, 3:00 o’clock dawn, I was up for my flight to Tacloban for an ocular visit to Basey, Samar and to help rebuild houses for victims of Supertyphoon Yolanda (International name Haiyan).  I was with Fr. Boyet Concepcion, and Tita Laila, who mans Bethlehem, House of Bread at Baliwag, Bulacan, one of the orphanages being started by Fr. Boyet years ago.  .

As the plane was descending bound to Tacloban Airport.  There were a few houses with roofs and bunk houses near the airport.

As we reached Tacloban, I cannot imagine the tremendous damage Yolanda had made. We met a friend of Fr. Boyet from Korea.  He accompanied us to a hotel.

The taxi driver was one of the “Yolanda” victims. He also lost some of his loved-ones but he needed to accept the reality of life. Though all of them were recovered, until now the government is still looking for the other dead.  With a rough estimate, the number of dead might have reached more than 10,000.

The taxi driver shared how the sea water was gone for about 30 minutes to an hour before it hit the land for more or less three times with a vast volume of wave similar to a tornado.  A sea surge is created by typhoons or supertyphoons while tornados are created by earthquakes.

The taxi driver recalled the stadium where there were plenty of dead people that reached the 12 feet height like that of the basketball ring.  Some people who survived held on to the wires of current posts, since electricity was cut beforehand.

The taxi driver pointed a car after it was thrown.  Roofs of the Betany Hospital and Divine Word Hospital were all gone.  The Liceo Verbo Divino, one of the prestigious schools run by the Society of the Divine Word, also suffered the same.

I ask God, why did He allow this to happen?  Why allow supertyphoons?  Is this natural or manmade?  Is it true that typhoons are created by heat starting from tropical depression, then, it gets stronger eventually developing to typhoon or supertyphoon?  Is the sun the source of energy and heat and life?.

Man destroyed the ozone layer due to burning of plastics, tires, and the like.  Man  has damaged our own nature, due to greed.

We must accept and adopt to what is happening to us.  The ozone layer may be healed after a few centuries with a lot of selfless effort.  We need to be flexible in facing the reality of doing the best by helping others.  Plenty of help is now given now only by Filipinos and from foreign nations like US, England, Japan, Korea, and many others.

We can use these help to rebuild Tacloban and neighboring places.  The church is helping them, like what the Social Action Center of the Archdiocese of Davao is doing.  Let us help and we will be showered a hundred fold.