Pain lingers as survivors of Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ remember the dead

PRAYERHerminigilda Nilo visits a mass grave in Palo, Leyte, to pray for her former employer who died during the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in 2013.

TACLOBAN CITY—It takes a lot of strength to bury 11 family members in a single grave.

But Dr. Clara Rose Brit had to endure the unimaginable. Her mother, two siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews joined 21 victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in the same hollow ground measuring 12 meters by 10 meters in their compound at Barangay Salvacion in Palo town, Leyte province.

Mass offering

The 21 others were either their neighbors or were strangers swept away to their place by the storm surge spawned by Yolanda, one of the strongest typhoons to hit land on Nov. 8, 2013. The typhoon pummeled Leyte and other parts of Eastern Visayas and killed more than 6,000 people.

It has been a tradition for the remaining family members to offer Mass every Nov. 8 to remember those who died in the tragedy.

Brit lost her mother, Remedios Zabal, and about half of their family members that day five years ago. The oldest was her grandmother, Catalina Zabala, 86, while the youngest was her nephew, Liam Monserate, 5. Two pregnant women also died during the onslaught.

The mass grave was dug in the family compound where 22 people lived in five houses.

Moving on

Brit said they decided to bury their loved ones in the compound because the situation in the aftermath of Yolanda was chaotic. Burying them in the family compound would allow them to visit their departed relatives often.

“It has been five years now and though it still pains us so much, we have learned to accept what happened to us. We still sorely misses them,” Brit’s older brother, Archie Zabala, 50, said.

Since 2014, Herminigilda Nilo, 64, of Barangay Quinapondan, also in Palo, would light a candle at the mass grave inside the compound of Palo Cathedral every Nov. 8.

The candle and a prayer are for her employer of 22 years, Dolores Caballero, who was one of the more than 500 fatalities buried in a mass grave, which Pope Francis visited on Jan. 17, 2015.

“I always come here and visit her since 2014. She was good to me and my family,” said Nilo, who now works for Caballero’s daughter, Salvacion, as a house helper.

Government and church officials said while they recognized the pain of losing loved ones to the tragedy, survivors must accept what happened and try to “move on.”

Never forget

In his homily at the graveyard to mark the anniversary of the tragedy on Thursday, Fr. Sunny Quejada, parish priest of Our Lady of the Poor, also in Palo, said survivors should be thankful to God.

“We still have a mission in life [that’s] why we survived. Those departed have ended their earthly lives. But we should not forget them as they were part of our lives,” he added.

Palo Mayor Remedios Petilla agreed. “We should not forget what happened to us five years ago but we should move on. Those who died due to Yolanda would not feel at peace if those they left behind continued to mourn over their loss,” Petilla said.

At least 1,500 Palo residents died as the typhoon battered Leyte.

Various commemorative programs were held in different towns and cities of Eastern Visayas, including Tacloban City, considered Yolanda’s ground zero.