DAY TO DAY ACCOUNT OF THE CC PANAY OPERATION
Francis Chu
Friday (November 8, 2013)
The strongest typhoon ever recorded made its landfall – Typhoon Yolanda or
internally names as “Haiyan”.
Iloilo City was silent as most offices were closed as the local government advised people to stay home. Panay Island was in Yolanda’s direct path. On the night before the landfall, people already flocked to supermarkets and groceries to buy supplies and food. We were warned to prepare and brace for one of the strongest typhoon ever recorded. As such, we prepared for our household and reminded our employees to fortify and secure everything that might turn loose and become a projectile. As I continue to monitor the satellite images and web forecasts, I got more worried and scared.
Early in the morning, Yolanda made its first landfall at Guiuan Eastern Samar then Tacloban, the center of the storm was estimated to reach northern Panay at around 11am. At 10:30am we were already experiencing strong winds, and by 11am the winds became stronger but not as strong as we expected. Two hours passed and the winds gradually weakened. Power and communications were cut-off in our city, there were no cellphone signals and some of the landlines went non-operational.
At around 3pm, I went out of the house to assess the damage. But to mysurprise, it was not much as it should have been. I told myself it could have been worse. I went back into the house and was somewhat happy and relieved. Unaware of what happened in Leyte, Samar and Northern Panay, until news gradually trickled in since all communications were cut-off, nobody knew the exact extent of devastation.
Saturday (November 9, 2013)
I attended a wedding ceremony of a high school classmate. One of my classmate and best friend since elementary up to our college days, Arnold Betita II, is a secondary sponsor of the groom. His dad Arnold Betita Senior, is the mayor of Carles Municipality (northern most town of Iloilo) should have been one of the major sponsors in the wedding.
While waiting for Arnold’s dad, I overheard from one of the attendees anxiously reporting to a group of attendees whom I knew operates big fishing vessels in Estancia, another municipality in northern Iloilo. This gentleman came from the worst hit part of Iloilo and started narrating his ordeal. He had to drive a motorcycle to reach Iloilo City, since most vehicles can’t pass through the highways due to fallen trees and electrical posts that scatter along the roads. He narrated to the fishing vessel operator how the super typhoon struck and that all her fishing vessels that was moored along the port of Estancia for safety was devoured by the storm surge, and that all establishments within the port and along the coast was wiped out. He described the more than 15 feet waters and that most of her personnel attending the boats were presumed dead. We were then struck with the severity of the tragedy.
Sunday (November 10, 2013)
After lunch, Arnold called and we talked about the news yet we have yet to hear about from the Carles Municipality. From the radio reports, there was a group of convoy sent by the provincial capitol of Iloilo attempting to reach the town of Carles, since they were already able to reach the town of Sara, Balasan, Concepcion and Estancia the day before. There and then, we immediately made a plan that the moment Carles is made passable from the first group, we will go.
That very afternoon, I met Arnold and we went to a local supermarket to buy canned goods, noodles and other essentials for the relief packs, at the same time doing some calls and sending text messages to friends, classmates and relatives if they can extend some help. We had nothing except a plan and an urgent desire to help. Thank God we were allowed to buy on credit. At that time, only us and a couple of friends had pledged andthe money with us is not enough for the operation. By late afternoon, we were able to raise enough cash and pledges for one truckload of goods for our planned trip the next morning.
We started posting updates on Facebook on what we are doing to update our friends and donors. We feel the need and importance that they be involved even though some are far away. After dinner, we commenced packing the relief packs with the help of some friends and relatives. Then one by one came neighbors and friends to help, some brought waters, canned goods, breads, cash and sacks of rice. Working tirelessly until all was packed and loaded onto the truck. This was the start of the Care Caravan Panay Operation…
(November 11, 2013) First trip north –3rd day after Yolanda struck.
Not knowing what to expect. Arnold and I checked and prepared for contingencies. We brought some medicines to give to the municipality in case they might need it. A three car convoy, two small vehicles and one truck, comprising of dear friends who volunteered to go with us began our journey north. A three-hour travel became four-and-a-half. Midway going to our destination, the devastation unraveled gradually. We had to deal with fallen trees, electric posts, transformers, high tension wires and other debris along the way. Oftentimes, we had to go way out of the highway to circumvent the obstacles and to make sure our truck won’t get caught by low lying wires.
It was already afternoon when we arrived at Carles. We went to the town hall to check Arnold’s dad. All the roofing of the building’s second floor was blown away. We found Arnold’s dad at the back of the hall busy coordinating with his people, thank God they were ok. We unloaded most of the relief packs, tasty loaves and water intended for the remote islands and left some for the mainland. The islanders needed the water most since small islands don’t have sources of drinkable water. They had to travel by boat just to get water from the mainland. Mayor assigned us to distribute the remaining relief packs at one of the evacuation center, a national highschool turned to evacuation center.
As we set foot at the evacuation center, we noticed almost all classrooms’ roofing were gone. We asked ourselves, how can the evacuees live in these conditions. People started to gather and fall in line, most are young and able bodied, some are old and some had newborns with them. People thanked us for the packs they received, you can see them smile like no other. It made me realized the strength and resiliency of our Filipino brothers and sisters. They taught me to be strong in spite of the hardships, to remain happy despite the loss and not to worry and be always hopeful.
Travelling home was quite treacherous aside from the wires dangling from side to side, fallen trees and electrical posts, the highway is in total darkness. We got home almost 12 midnight, tired, hungry but with a sense of fulfillment that we are able to serve some of our brothers when they most need it.
Tuesday (November 12, 2013)
While discussing with Arnold what we saw and experienced the previous day, I received a call from Christine Huan and Leslie Sun. We started making plans on how Care Caravan can immediately send help and the plan to purchase relief goods locally for immediate deployment. By lunch time, we decided to have the caravan deployed by next morning. Phones started buzzing, orders began arriving one by one, sacks of rice then noodles. By evening, water provisions, canned goods, candles and matches arrived.
Strangers, acquaintances, friends, neighbors and relatives began to arrive and dropped by to help, brothers and sisters from Iloilo Trinity Christian Church led by Marvin Du and his family helped in packing. A friend brought pancit molo for the volunteers, others brought their children to help. One friend, James, brought along his son and cartons of canned goods, water and biscuits. Little did I know that it was his son’s birthday that day. Everybody packed tirelessly. By midnight everybody was already tired and started going home one by one. They are the unsung heroes of this operation. Not only did they spend time, resources and effort to help others in need and that they truly care.
Wednesday (November 13, 2013) 5th day after Yolanda struck.
We finished what we were not able to pack last night. A total of almost 4,000 relief packs have been completed by the time we are about to deploy. We finished packing just in time for the loaf bread to arrive from the factory. Three trucks were loaded for. The relief items were intended for the islands of Carles and Estancia. It was the fifth day after Yolanda struck and many islands have yet to be reached. If they were able to be supplied, it is only through boat and helicopter drops and surely the supplies should have ran out. Also we knew that most boats had capsized or rendered unusable due to the super typhoon. So our priority is on the islands.
A deployment of relief goods by the government was ongoing and they were doing their best. We met them enroute as dump trucks upon dump trucks of relief goods were being sent with police escorts. We tagged along with them then parted ways as we headed to our destination. With the help of dear friends and groups from Multisports Iloilo and Rotary Club of Metro Iloilo we started our travel back north. Then we split with one truck for team Rotary Metro Iloilo and Iloilo Trinity Christian Church for the islands of Estancia and our group two trucks for the islands of Carles.For this trip, separate teams covered two islands in Estancia and five islands in Carles and we were able to distribute some to inland towns of Balasan, Carles and Estancia. Breaking into smaller teams allowed us to cover more areas and became more effective in our case. The goal was to reach more in a short time.
Before the operation we informed each of the group that when finished, they should head back to Iloilo since there was no way to communicate with each other. We don’t want to travel in total darkness. We prayed for each others’ safety. Our group arrived in the city at around midnight. We were glad all teams and team members were accounted for and safely home and their respective operation went well.
Thursday (November 14, 2013) 6th day after Yolanda.
Rest day for all of us. We got a chance to slow down, collect pledges, check cash position and pay bills to suppliers. Many organizations and individuals start to deploy relief goods going north. Most of the suppliers ran out of stocks from noodles, canned goods and candles, those available are instant pancit cantons and hot sardines in red, empty water bottles for bottled water also ran out.
Now Care Caravan’s priority shifted to temporary shelters. Experiencing ourselves the scorching midday heat during the operations and occasional rains, I just can’t imagine the ordeal they had to go through seeing mothers with infants with no roof at night and what to do in case of rain. Achi Leslie and I talked, and this started Care Caravan’s sakolin drive.
Friday (November 15, 2013 – And Onwards)
With Care Caravan’s support, the sakolin drive was a success. We were able to raise enough funds from Care Caravan and friends to temporarily give shelter to at least 3,000 families. Cover from the extreme heat, strong winds and rain. We started ordering rolls upon rolls of sakolin from a supplier, a good friend opened their home and volunteered to have the sakolins cut and folded for distribution. With much resource a big place and lots of household help Jake and his team worked behind the scenes. They cut the sakolins day in and day out, morning household help was the one cutting and folding, at night friends from different groups volunteered to cut.
Along the way, we continued in distributing the relief goods – reaching more places, bringing God’s love closer to the people, knowing, learning and understanding the people whose lives were affected by this event. I met many believers and non believers along the way. I pray that these people whom our God destined us to reach may one day know and experience our one true God.
Care Caravan Panay Operations continued to make a difference, with groups from Iloilo Trinity going to other places covering more places and going multiple times headed by Marvin Du. Groups who came from Manila Brother Allen Uy and Calvin Chu, coverede Aklan, Capiz and Antique. Davao Evangelical Church relief goods, water, medicine and additional sakolins reached the province of Capiz covering towns of Pan-ay and Pontevedra. covered by Brother Jesse Amiel Ramoso and our group. And additional container vans from Care Caravan for the different churches and barangays for the town of Pan-ay were completely distributed