'Yolanda' survivors share typhoon tales

TACLOBAN CITY, Oct. 13 (PNA) -- Less than a month before the third anniversary of super typhoon Yolanda, survivors recalled the ordeal during the onslaught of the monster typhoon and shared their stories of recovery.

In a gathering on Wednesday organized by members of the Eastern Visayas Region Librarians Council (EVRLC) in nearby Palo town, residents from different parts of the region remembered their experiences of pain and survival.

Everyone was teary-eyed when Myla Milado told the story of how storm surges washed away her five children. “After the second wave, we never saw them again,” she said.

Milado’s youngest child, who was 11 months old in late 2013, struggled to survive after being soaked by seawater.

Fortunately, her husband found an empty tank where they hid until the water subsided.

Another survivor, Art Ramasasa, a musician from Eastern Samar imparts his story from a point of view of a blind person.

Ramasasa said that when the typhoon struck, all he did was to pray because there is nothing he could do but to comfort his family and listen to the sounds of the violent winds and flying roofs.

“On that day, I said that whatever happens, I will accept it with all my heart,” Ramasasa recalled.

A story of an old lady also brought everyone to tears.

Marilyn Engle, a mother of eight and a wife to a sickly husband, who died during the onslaught of Yolanda.

“Our neighbors tied my husband’s body to the bed so that he will not be drifted away by the rushing water,” Engle shared.

She said that she was reluctant to leave her husband behind, but her friends convinced her that there is no point of bringing him along because he was already dead.

When the storm subsided, the entire neighborhood helped arranged her spouse’s funeral.

Nowadays, Engle is nurturing her skills in needlework, sharing her talent to the employees of a local university in their place.

“With Yolanda, I have learned many lessons, and I have learned to move on,” she said.

On Nov. 8, Yolanda survivors will commemorate the third anniversary of the monster typhoon that killed at least 6,300 peoples and wipe out thousands of houses in central Philippines. (PNA)
JMC/SQM/JONABEL L. SALAZAR, LNU INTERN/EGR