MANILA, Philippines – It was a gruelling 10-hour walk and hitch-ride from Tacloban City to get to a small town in Leyte, but Chona Yu was willing to walk for miles just to see her 65-year-old mother alive.
Instead of breaking news for Radyo Inquirer 990AM, Yu suddenly found herself telling her own story as she searched for her mother and other family members, who live in a town severely hit by super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).
The day “Yolanda” struck Eastern Visayas on November 8 (Friday) was the day Yu last spoke with her mother.
“(I) can’t help but cry. I couldn’t get hold of my family. (I’m) calling them endlessly. Agony,” she wrote on her Facebook .
When interviewed by INQUIRER.net from Palo, Tacloban on Monday, Yu said her mother was able to tell her on the phone that their house in Barangay (village) Cavite, Alang-Alang was destroyed by the typhoon.
It was their last conversation but the start of Yu’s ordeal.
“After that wala na kaming contact kaya na-force din akong umuwi to check kung ano talaga ang nangyari kasi wala na nga akong communication sa kanila,” she said.
(After that we lost contact and I was forced to return to my home town to find out what happened…)
A day after the typhoon, Yu immediately went to Villamor Airbase in Pasay City hoping to get a plane ride to Tacloban City. She waited until the following day (Sunday, November 10) and finally got a seat in a C-130 military plane.
She left Manila at 2 p.m. and arrived in Tacloban City around 4 p.m.
Wasting no time, Yu immediately started her journey to her home by walking and hitching a ride for almost 10 hours. She finally reached home at 2 a.m. Monday (November 11).
She counted at least four hours walking with other people, who were also looking for their relatives trapped in the typhoon-stricken areas , while the remaining hours were spent, hitching a ride with strangers.
“Yung iba, mahina ang loob, nahiyang maki-ride so buong lakad ang ginawa nila,” she said.
(The others were too shy to hitch a ride and they kept on walking.)
At dark, vehicles’ head lamps provided light along the roads, she said.
“Maraming sasakyan, bumper to bumper so naiilawan kami somehow…” Yu said.
(Many vehicles were caught in a bumper-to-bumper traffic and their head lamps gave us light.)
Asked if it was her longest journey since she became a journalist, she said: “So far. Para makita ko yung nanay ko kung buhay o hindi.”
(So far it was. I did it for my mother.)
And it was all worth it.
Yu found her mother sleeping at her brother’s house, which was also wrecked by the typhoon.
“Nagulat sya (she was surprised),” she said, referring to her mother. “Sabi nya, uy bakit andito ka? (She said why are you here?)”
Since “Yolanda” struck their family house, her mother, her younger sibling and nephew have been taking shelter in their brother’s home.
“May five percent pa kaming nasasisilungan,” said Yu, who now managed to laugh.
Because she found her family, she decided to stay with them while waiting for help.
Asked how she and her family managed to survive for days after the storm, Yu said: “May imbak na palay, bigas at canned goods sa sari-sari store namin.”
(There were enough stocks of palay, rice and canned at our store.)
But Yu, who took a leave of absence from work, said their food supply is fast running out.
“Nakakuha naman kami ng relief goods, tatlong kilong bigas pero baka tumagal lang ng tatlong araw,” she added.
(We were able to get relief goods…three kilos of rice, but these will only last for three days.)
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