lordna
14th November 2013, 22:40
This was posted on Facebook today ...interesting to read:-
I HAVE SURVIVED TACLOBAN, LETS US ALL NOW HELP TO MAKE IT SURVIVE.
(This is a firsthand account of what happened from my personal point-of-view)
DAY 1 STORM AFTERMATH (Friday)
No sign of authority was seen. People not oriented were to seek help, death toll unaccounted. Arterial roads leading in and out of Tacloban cluttered with debris. People were misled by hearsays that another sea surge would come and panicked to get out of the city and flee to nearby mountainside when daylight ceded.
Only sign of relief efforts were from Sagip Kapamilya that were distributed at Rosevenil Pensione, but it only lasted for a few families.
DAY 2 CRITICAL PERIOD (Saturday)
No improvement was seen, people were already desperate to seek food source as to all establishments were still closed. Consider the vast populations of the city relying to outside food source before you make irrational conclusions.
Have seen Sec. Mar Roxas aboard a passenger passed by Gaisano(old building) as people were starting looting the store scrounging for food to eat. Within a few hours almost all stores (Gaisano Central, 578, Mercury: Real, Sagkahan, Rizal, Robinsons, San Miguel Brewery, other Rice warehouses and mills) were looted as there was no sign of help was coming.
We were with Jiggy Manicad’s crew as we traverse the devastated state from downtown area to Palo to get to their nearest satellite as they have no contact with the main crew in Manila. This will be the first account of what happened at our beloved City.
DAY 3 SPARK OF HOPE (Sunday)
Volunteers from the Latter-Day-Saints started distributing relief goods via City government, but this was low and the city decided that distribution will be per barangay, Sec Jinky Soliman arrived, DSWD made a makeshift tent to establish the first communication outside the city.
Inmates of the City Jail got out (I don’t have speicifc numbers) as I was there when the shootout happened.
Still no distribution of relief goods was felt by nearby communities. 48 hours have passed, roads are still blocked, no power supply, no phone signal, bodies lay around the city starting to rot. All hospitals refused to accept patients as they were shorthanded, no supplies and nonoperational.
DAY 4 EXODUS (Monday)
People were now desperate to seek help and have now no other option but to leave the city we called home.
No relief operations were seen. Have tried boarding the C130 flight but they were prioritizing those VIP and other influential people. We were not accommodated that day and we were promised to be boarded the first flight out the following morning. St. Luke’s volunteers were there but was situated inside the locked area in the Air Traffic Control and is not accessible to ordinary people (as the airport is situated 10 km from the outskirts of the city and consider that you’ll have to brave knee length debris, water and corpse on the roads).
I have celebrated my Birthday on the side section of the runway were we were assigned not to leave. There were no tents provided for civilians, no food, no water, only for the armed forces and volunteers who were sheltered and fed. Hard rain poured that night and still we kept our group.
DAY 5 EXHAUSTION (Tuesday)
Imagine a 24 hour ordeal with no food and water. Lucky for an adult like me, consider thinking for infants, women, elderly and sick. Commotion arose as other people got mixed in with our group and we were trapped for 6 hours in a barricade full of people with media relentlessly taking pictures just doing nothing about it. Air Force Ground Personnel were very poor in ground management that some of them even lost patience and blurted insulting words as they are not designed to carry people for evacuation. “Hindi naming kayo pinipilit sumakay” verbatim engraved in my mind as if we owe it to them to evacuate us, isn’t it your duty Monsieur?
No food or water ration were provided for people at the airport considering that this is where most of the food source were located, and there were many armed personnel just roaming around not put to good use.
Foreign aid and media came in and were aghast of how our government poorly managed this situation. Badly indeed as there was no improvement.
Got a commercial flight from PAL (Php 2500) bound for Manila via connecting flight from Cebu for Thursday. PAL and Cebu Pacific did not offer free flight as previously claimed.
DAY 6 WAR ZONE (Wednesday)
Line for C130 got worse, US Army Planes were also boarded but still they have their own priorities. Gunfire sounds will be heard from every part of the city.
DAY 7 DESPERATION (Thursday)
From downtown area I have traversed again the perilous road leading to the airport, improvements to clearance and dead bodies were seen. But still people were shorthanded to manage the vast damage caused by this storm.
That midnight I have officemates and their families that boarded the Navy Ship bound for Cebu.
Luckily I have managed to get boarded, and imagine a plane full of hungry, exhausted people. That when bottled water and biscuits were distributed all of us opened and consumed it in a blink of an eye.
Everyone shed a silent tear as the plane rose; devastation was more extreme from aerial view, a sign that well brave everything not to leave the city we have loved but a chance for us to do something for it.
Tonight well be the first to sleep in clean clothes, comfy bed, a good dinner and all the comforts of the civilized life.
PLEASE SHARE TO MAKE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THE REAL SETUP OF THE CITY. THIS IS NOT A TIME TO POINT WHOSE TO BLAME BUT FOR US TO HELP EVERYONE WE KNOW IN OUR OWN WAY.
I HAVE SURVIVED TACLOBAN, LETS US ALL NOW HELP TO MAKE IT SURVIVE.
(This is a firsthand account of what happened from my personal point-of-view)
DAY 1 STORM AFTERMATH (Friday)
No sign of authority was seen. People not oriented were to seek help, death toll unaccounted. Arterial roads leading in and out of Tacloban cluttered with debris. People were misled by hearsays that another sea surge would come and panicked to get out of the city and flee to nearby mountainside when daylight ceded.
Only sign of relief efforts were from Sagip Kapamilya that were distributed at Rosevenil Pensione, but it only lasted for a few families.
DAY 2 CRITICAL PERIOD (Saturday)
No improvement was seen, people were already desperate to seek food source as to all establishments were still closed. Consider the vast populations of the city relying to outside food source before you make irrational conclusions.
Have seen Sec. Mar Roxas aboard a passenger passed by Gaisano(old building) as people were starting looting the store scrounging for food to eat. Within a few hours almost all stores (Gaisano Central, 578, Mercury: Real, Sagkahan, Rizal, Robinsons, San Miguel Brewery, other Rice warehouses and mills) were looted as there was no sign of help was coming.
We were with Jiggy Manicad’s crew as we traverse the devastated state from downtown area to Palo to get to their nearest satellite as they have no contact with the main crew in Manila. This will be the first account of what happened at our beloved City.
DAY 3 SPARK OF HOPE (Sunday)
Volunteers from the Latter-Day-Saints started distributing relief goods via City government, but this was low and the city decided that distribution will be per barangay, Sec Jinky Soliman arrived, DSWD made a makeshift tent to establish the first communication outside the city.
Inmates of the City Jail got out (I don’t have speicifc numbers) as I was there when the shootout happened.
Still no distribution of relief goods was felt by nearby communities. 48 hours have passed, roads are still blocked, no power supply, no phone signal, bodies lay around the city starting to rot. All hospitals refused to accept patients as they were shorthanded, no supplies and nonoperational.
DAY 4 EXODUS (Monday)
People were now desperate to seek help and have now no other option but to leave the city we called home.
No relief operations were seen. Have tried boarding the C130 flight but they were prioritizing those VIP and other influential people. We were not accommodated that day and we were promised to be boarded the first flight out the following morning. St. Luke’s volunteers were there but was situated inside the locked area in the Air Traffic Control and is not accessible to ordinary people (as the airport is situated 10 km from the outskirts of the city and consider that you’ll have to brave knee length debris, water and corpse on the roads).
I have celebrated my Birthday on the side section of the runway were we were assigned not to leave. There were no tents provided for civilians, no food, no water, only for the armed forces and volunteers who were sheltered and fed. Hard rain poured that night and still we kept our group.
DAY 5 EXHAUSTION (Tuesday)
Imagine a 24 hour ordeal with no food and water. Lucky for an adult like me, consider thinking for infants, women, elderly and sick. Commotion arose as other people got mixed in with our group and we were trapped for 6 hours in a barricade full of people with media relentlessly taking pictures just doing nothing about it. Air Force Ground Personnel were very poor in ground management that some of them even lost patience and blurted insulting words as they are not designed to carry people for evacuation. “Hindi naming kayo pinipilit sumakay” verbatim engraved in my mind as if we owe it to them to evacuate us, isn’t it your duty Monsieur?
No food or water ration were provided for people at the airport considering that this is where most of the food source were located, and there were many armed personnel just roaming around not put to good use.
Foreign aid and media came in and were aghast of how our government poorly managed this situation. Badly indeed as there was no improvement.
Got a commercial flight from PAL (Php 2500) bound for Manila via connecting flight from Cebu for Thursday. PAL and Cebu Pacific did not offer free flight as previously claimed.
DAY 6 WAR ZONE (Wednesday)
Line for C130 got worse, US Army Planes were also boarded but still they have their own priorities. Gunfire sounds will be heard from every part of the city.
DAY 7 DESPERATION (Thursday)
From downtown area I have traversed again the perilous road leading to the airport, improvements to clearance and dead bodies were seen. But still people were shorthanded to manage the vast damage caused by this storm.
That midnight I have officemates and their families that boarded the Navy Ship bound for Cebu.
Luckily I have managed to get boarded, and imagine a plane full of hungry, exhausted people. That when bottled water and biscuits were distributed all of us opened and consumed it in a blink of an eye.
Everyone shed a silent tear as the plane rose; devastation was more extreme from aerial view, a sign that well brave everything not to leave the city we have loved but a chance for us to do something for it.
Tonight well be the first to sleep in clean clothes, comfy bed, a good dinner and all the comforts of the civilized life.
PLEASE SHARE TO MAKE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THE REAL SETUP OF THE CITY. THIS IS NOT A TIME TO POINT WHOSE TO BLAME BUT FOR US TO HELP EVERYONE WE KNOW IN OUR OWN WAY.