Haiyan Update – FAQ.ph

Two Years after Yolanda, Hundreds of Families still Live in Bunkhouses

November 9, 2015 By Lyza R. Sabornido Leave a Comment

Bunkhouses in Brgy 63, Tacloban City

Two years ago Super Typhoon Yolanda left 6,300 casualties; and more than 28,689 people with injuries. 1, 061 remains missing and hundreds of families still live in bunkhouses.

According to the latest report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the damage to property caused by Yolanda stands at P89,598,068,634. This includes the thousands of houses of people along the coastal areas who were left homeless. Because of the help coming from various international Non-Governmental Organizations or iNGOs, NGOs, and the government, infrastructures and houses were rebuilt.

In an article posted on thestandard.com.ph on October 29, 2015, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman, was quoted saying; “We are assuring [the public] that by the end of October, there will no longer be bunkhouses in Tacloban. These aren’t safe so we’ll remove them.” Yet, when our team visited the place on November 6, some 307 families still remains at NHA Bunkhouse in Barangay 63, Tacloban City. [Read more…]

In Pictures: Guiuan Eastern Samar, a Year after Yolanda

November 10, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 4 Comments

Guiuananons looking at the poster which shows the government’s accomplishments on the rehabilitation of Guiuan Public Market.

If Tacloban City in Leyte is considered by many as the ground zero of Super Typhoon Yolanda (International name: Haiyan), Guiuan in Eastern Samar is known as the point of Haiyan’s first landfall in the Philippines. It was at 4:40 a.m. on November 8, 2013 when Guiuananons felt the wrath of Yolanda, with maximum sustained winds of 235 kph and gustiness of up to 275 kph that killed a hundred of them. Although most of Guiuan did not experience the great storm surges that killed thousands of people in Leyte, the town suffered the strongest winds that destroyed its buildings and infrastructures.

Now, after one year since the devastation occurred, how is Guiuan now? Here are some photos I took around the town and nearby places on 6 and 7 November 2014 which will give us a glance of Guiuan a year after Yolanda. [Read more…]

Tacloban City, One Year After Haiyan (50 Pictures of Commemoration, Hope and Recovery )

November 9, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 19 Comments

Various pictures of Tacloban City one year after Super Typhoon Yolanda devastated the city.

We have shown you Tacloban City in pictures 7 months after Super Typhoon Yolanda (International name: Haiyan) struck the city on November 8, 2013. We’ve also shared images from around the city and nearby towns 9 months after the typhoon. Now, as my fellow Taclobanons commemorate the first Yolanda Anniversary, I want to share these 50 photos which I took around Tacloban on November 8, 2014. [Read more…]

Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum after Yolanda (45 Pictures of What’s Inside It Now)

October 11, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 6 Comments

Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum Tacloban

Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum as seen along Real Street in Tacloban City. Picture was taken on October 9, 2014.

Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Tacloban City. But I guess many of the city’s and neighboring towns’ residents have never seen what’s inside it. Sto. Niño Shrine, as what the locals usually call the place, is one of the several presidential rest houses built under the administration of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. It was specially built for his wife Imelda Romualdez Marcos who was raised in Tacloban City.

Sto. Niño Shrine is located along Real Street. From outside, it looks like just an ordinary mansion, but inside, it houses a chapel for the Leyte’s Patron Sto. Niño, several rooms with their own motifs, a grand ballroom, beautifully crafted furniture, and priceless artifacts, such as paintings, dioramas, religious relics, antique collections and ivory sculptures. [Read more…]

Where did the Billion-Dollar Foreign Aid for Haiyan Survivors Go?

August 16, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 7 Comments

(The tents at San Jose, Tacloban City where some survivors are still getting temporary shelters as of August 9, 2014)

Not only Haiyan (Yolanda) survivors but all the concerned Filipinos and foreign nationals are asking… where did all the international donations for Yolanda victims go? Did the funds reach the Haiyan survivors or not?

As a Haiyan Survivor myself, I’m also curious to the answer of those questions above. But with our government where Freedom of Information (FOI) is not a law yet, getting clear answers is like getting information that can only be found on another planet.

Nevertheless, let’s try to get some ideas that can somehow satisfy our curios minds.

If you’re also wondering where did those funds go, here are 10 things you should know: [Read more…]

Haiyan Update and the Lives of Survivors (See Pictures 9 Months After Yolanda)

August 11, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 11 Comments

Nine months after Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) devastated the central part of the Philippines, there are already changes that we can see. I went to Basey Samar, Tacloban City and Palo Leyte on August 9 and 10 to take pictures and update the Filipinos and the world nine months after Haiyan struck us on November 8 last year.

After nine months, I have observed and realized the following while I was touring the areas affected by Haiyan and having conversations with the survivors. [Read more…]

15 Things Only Haiyan Survivors will Completely Understand

July 13, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar 32 Comments

Having experienced Haiyan’s gusting wind, deadly storm surge, and the horror it brought to our region, several realizations came in to my life, and I know that other Haiyan survivors also share the same sentiments as I do. The havoc caused by Haiyan (local name Yolanda) was not only felt by the locals who actually witnessed it, but also by the people all over the world who kept their eyes on that terrible and heartbreaking news.

However, there are still many things about Haiyan that only us, the survivors, will fully realize. In order to let the world understand us deeper on what we had been through, here are some things that I want to share to everyone. [Read more…]

Tacloban Says Thank You World! The Sangyaw Pasasalamat Festival 2014

June 29, 2014 By Victorino Q. Abrugar Leave a Comment

Tacloban says Thank You World!

It’s a gloomy Sunday. No excruciating heat from the sun. Although there’s no blue sky to make my pictures clear and bright, the scattered showers of rain signify it will be a blissful Sunday for Taclobanons and for all the visitors from the different places of the world.

People find their perfect places in the sides of the streets to wait for the Sangyaw Pasasalamat Parade. After almost eight months since Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) devastated the region, it seems that Taclobanons are already back on their feet – thanks to all the heartwarming help and support from the International communities, and of course, from the locals who never give up the city and the whole Eastern Visayas. [Read more…]