'Yolanda' Museum eyed in Tacloban

TACLOBAN CITY June 23-- Tacloban is bent to put up a Yolanda Museum with the city's Astrodome being eyed as the location. 

Vice Mayor Jerry "Sambo" Yaokasin has told PNA that it would be the city's way of remembering it "devastating past", paying tribute to those who perished and those who survived, and likewise to remind people not to take lightly the effect of climate change. 

"All those destroyed structures and even those vessel found in Barangay Anibong is a testament and all those will be preserved in that museum to ensure the lives that were lost aren’t forgotten and so the stories of those who survived continue to be shared," Yaokasin said.

The vice mayor, however, did not state any date when to start the construction and the projected budget for the planned museum. 

Hotels and restaurants are rising in the city and both local and foreign tourists are increasingly visiting Tacloban to see the city that re-emerged from the rubble of typhoon "Yolanda" which struck on November 8, 2013, killing more than 6,000 people.

The Tacloban Astrodome, where the proposed museum will be be built, will not just be an arena for special occasions of the city, but also a museum and an evacuation center for future stronger typhoons.

The Tacloban Astrodome is the proposed site where the museum should be housed. The indoor arena will be a multi-purpose hall which will not just be an arena for special occasions of the city but also a museum and an evacuation center for future stronger typhoons.

The Astrodome provided a refuge for hundreds of "Yolanda" survivors coming from San Jose and Sagkahan areas in 2013.

Outside the Astrodome area is now a memorial park where engraved names of all those who perished during typhoon Yolanda were written.

"Tourists can go inside the Astrodome and wonder what it was like trying to cling to anything stable to survive the big waves of Yolanda," Yaokasin said.

According to Yaokasin, memorials including those photo galleries of the destruction and recovery will be collected and place inside the museum.

"We don’t have to sanitize it, just mixed it with photos of debris and rebuilding and all those images of human sufferings," Yaokasin said.

While all Yolanda sites in San Jose, Anibong and in Old Road Sagkahan are sober reminders of one of the worst natural disasters in modern history, according to Yaokasin visitors cannot help but feel the resilience of the people of Tacloban.

Flags of different countries that provided assistance will be place in the museum and such exhibits will explain how the community worked together to rebuild, Yaokasin said. (Jazmin Bonifacio/PNA)