Catastrophic. Distressing. Tragic.
This was once the situation in Tacloban after super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded in history; wrecked and claimed not only thousands of homes, but also thousands of families and lives.
Cries of help linger throughout every corner of the city as people affected by the storm dwell on the last glimpse or word of a loved one who didn’t make it, all the while experiencing extreme hunger and risk to infections and diseases. One mother, for one, recalls her daughter's last words amidst the typhoon. “Ma, just let go. Save yourself." Bernadette Tenegra, in an interview with a local TV station, quoted her daughter as she was told. "I was holding her, and I kept telling her to hang on.... But she just gave up." With these accounts of homes and lives that didn’t make it through, and each tale uncovered that proved to be more heartbreaking than the last, it was indeed a time where the Filipinos were at its worst.
Yet, it was also a time when we were at our best.
We were at our best, for despite this catastrophe; we are still able to smile, full faith and trust that after the storm the sun will rise and smile back at us. Those people who experienced grief and heartbreak? They do not let the tragedy of their fate get into them. As David Guttenfelder witnessed, “People laugh and are happy, even though their lives are just destroyed. They've built basketball hoops in rubble and play pickup games, and people watch and cheer. The Filipino people have an incredible spirit and an incredible way of moving on. If it were any other place in the world, it would be so different.”
Now, a couple of months after Typhoon Haiyan churned through the Philippines, signage that once read “Please help” are now replaced with a heartfelt “Thank you”. Tacloban is slowly progressing, and though recovery effort is slow and far from over and there are still a lot needed to be fixed, Tacloban is carrying through. Amidst the devastation that once was Typhoon Haiyan, hope lives in the Filipino people’s hearts. Amidst chaos and despair, the Filipino people are not defeated.
Smiles are wider, cheers louder, for the Filipino spirit is alive among us. The Filipino spirit is waterproof.
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