THURSDAY 5TH DECEMBER
There are nine of us together for the day: one of CAFOD's communications team, a man from Caritas Internationalis in Rome, the director of Caritas Belgium, members of Caritas Germany and Switzerland, an Ethiopian lady working for Caritas Belgium, a Filipino lady and a lovely lady from Caritas Korea! The plan is to travel to see the north of Cebu Island and two other islands affected by the typhoon.
The journey out of Cebu took 45 minutes, through terrible gridlock here. It is the second biggest city in the Philippines, with a population of two million, and is surrounded by four other towns with which it is merging, though the infrastructure is not managing the growth. There are no signs of the typhoon here, although people are all too aware of how close it came and how so many close by have been affected.
For sixty miles north there was no sign of damage; then it all became evident very suddenly. All along the way were fallen trees, their trunks newly cut to clear the road. In some meadows every tree had been flattened and houses had been destroyed. Again the estimate is that 90% of homes are damaged and 50% of those completely lost. Families are living in shacks using the debris or emergency tents and there were many makeshift signs at junctions asking for help and food for communities living off the main road.
After three hours we reached the northern tip of Cebu Island, to await the next ferry to Bantayan Island. Passengers included uniformed soldiers on relief work, some of them armed. Relief workers all had t-shirts with the logo of the charity they represent. Then there were individuals and families just making their regular journey; and there were tourists, as some of the hotels are still functioning. Can one be a tourist in such conditions ? Whatever one’s view, tourists bring invaluable income, in this most difficult of times.
The island looked idyllic as the ferry approached, but it became immediately obvious as we docked that terrible damage had been done. Some of the modern concrete buildings seemed to have escaped the worst but the housing has suffered. We went straight to a little community called Pili on the other side of the island. The square was full of hundreds of people quietly queuing for goods at the distribution point. After registering names against the electoral roll families received a voucher listing the goods they would receive: food, toiletries and tools. They then presented the voucher and received the goods in a plastic dustbin (useful in itself). The calm was wonderful to see, with thank-yous and smiles. I would certainly have expected tension and frustration among people who have lost homes, livelihoods and family members: and this was the first distribution they had received.
Bantayan has two important food industries: poultry and fishing. We saw some enormous battery farms. One hardly touched by the storm and no loss of chickens, but another less than half a mile away had lost half of its 18,000 chickens and the sheds had collapsed. We were also struck by the battery farming, chickens all crowded together and unable to move.
At the hotel in the evening I got into conversation with a handball professional, the same age as me and originally from East Germany. He was here at the time of the typhoon and had recorded some of it on his phone. He showed us some terrifying film with trees almost horizontal and driving rain. He described the two phases of the storm, separated by a silent stillness as they sat in the eye of the typhoon. He is now helping with the repair work.
We leave here at 5am for another island. We will be in a small sailing boat but should get back to Cebu Island in time to travel to the airport for the flight home in the evening.
As I close this, at 11,15pm, there is a torrential downpour outside. I am not sure I could get used to these extremes, as the day has been very hot, in the mid-thirties, and humid. And now this rain. .
