YOLANDA ONE YEAR AFTER: Life After the Storm

YOLANDA ONE YEAR AFTER: Life After the Storm

Family reunion in Nueva Ecija, standing: Beth’s husband Marvin Hermosa and Beth Boctot-Hermosa; Zenaida Boctot (seated with black pants), Prince Tyronne Boctot and Beth’s mother-in-law (seated, right).

By Jonathan B. Canchela

ONE year after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) devastated the region of Eastern Visayas, Philippines, many survivors and families still feel the grief caused by the worst storm in the country. Many have not fully recovered from the impact of the disaster in their lives. A lot of them have been trying to collect the pieces from what happened to make sense out of it in rebuilding their lives.

Beth Boctot-Hermosa, who lost her mother and 13 relatives when the typhoon ravaged Tacloban, Leyte on November 8, 2013, recalled in an interview how miserable was the experience for her. Though she was not in Tacloban when the super-typhoon hit the city, she felt the sadness and struggle of what happened to her mother, relatives, and the people in general.

Beth, who works in Makati and lives in Mandaluyong, was threemonths pregnant with her second child then. Two days before Typhoon Yolanda hit the ground, she made several phone calls to her relatives and friends in Tacloban, but all the cell numbers in her phone were out of service. She was in panic mode.

“I couldn’t believe that all mobile numbers were not working when I made some calls that day,” she said.

With all the news about super-typhoon devastation, Beth was desperately trying to contact her mother Zenaida, 68, and family in Tacloban. She wanted to go home but her doctor advised her not to. She could not defy the doctor’s advice because she knew she had to rest for herself and the baby.

Still no news about her family after that Friday, November 8, Beth decided to contact a friend who said she would fly to Leyte via C-130.
Carrying some canned goods and drinking water, Beth went to Villamor Air Base the following Sunday to meet her friend. Unfortunately, her friend was not accommodated in that flight which was a priority to “military personnel, foreign and local press people.”

Then Tuesday, November 12, came the sad news. One of Beth’s aunts in Tacloban texted her what happened to her mother and Tsong (uncle) Jaime and his entire family. She was shocked and devastated.
Zenaida Boctot lived with her son Marvin in Magallanes Street, Barangay 52, Tacloban City. On that fateful Friday, Zenaida left the house prior to the storm, and decided to join her brother (Jaime) and family in their two-storey concrete house hundred meters away from Magallanes street. Unfortunately, storm surge swept the house away killing 14 family members: Zenaida, Jaime and his entire family including little kids. All bodies were found days apart after the incident. All bodies were buried in a mass grave.

Life is hard for Beth and her siblings. They have to cope up with bitter memory and miserable reality that their mother was gone. Her brother Marvin who survived the tragedy has been trying to rebuild his life in Tacloban. Her sister Mary Anne lives with her husband in Tolosa, Leyte.

Asked how the family was coping with tragedy, Beth said helping her brother with moral, spiritual and financial support was the priority. She invited her brother in Manila last Christmas just to get away from unhappy memory in Tacloban.

That Christmas should have been a family reunion in Tacloban City. Beth and her husband had booked their flights to Tacloban to surprise her mother Zenaida with the news that she was pregnant with her second child. It obviously never happened.

Asked if the family had received any help from the government, Beth said yes, with some relief goods. “It was really Tzu Chi (Foundation) that gave more financial support to my family. My brother received 12,000 cash and also my other relatives. Marvin also availed the cash-for-work project under Tzu Chi for two weeks.”

The government has been under fire for its lack of preparation and proper warning to people before the storm. And it has been accused of callous neglect for victims and survivors of the most dangerous typhoon in country’s history.

Almost 7,000 people were killed and millions were affected by Typhoon Yolanda. Billions of cash were donated to government and various relief agencies, and yet until now the rehabilitation efforts have not been significantly implemented.

Last All Souls’ Day, Beth offered prayers for her mother and relatives who died last year. For people like Beth, life after the storm is hard. It becomes harder as the rebuilding process is happening in a painstakingly slow pace.