Future of survivors still bleak in Eastern Samar

GUIUAN, Eastern Samar—As the sun rises in Salog village here, people emerge from the clusters of tents that occupy what used to be an athletic field, just across the road from the town cemetery.

Outside the tents, women go about their chores. Teenage children fetch water from the camp’s water source, while the younger ones mill about the basketball court.

For outsiders, it may look like family camping, but for the residents of Guiuan’s “tent city,” their prolonged stay here only adds up to the misery that began when Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) struck on Nov. 8 last year.

“[Government representatives] told us that we will be staying here for only six months at most, but it has been a year now and we are still here. We do not know how much longer we can endure life here,” said Charita Lacaba, a mother of six.

Over the past year, the Lacabas, like hundreds of other families displaced by the strongest storm ever to hit land, had to endure living in tents and bunkhouses, hoping that the government and other organizations would fulfill their promises.

Their situation reflects the state of the government’s relief and rehabilitation efforts, which international aid organizations have found faster and better than in other disaster-stricken countries.

People living in the tents try to eke out a living on their own, with help from international relief organizations. By contrast, government help has been delayed or absent altogether.

Worst-hit

A year after Yolanda, the Eastern Samar towns of Lawaan, Balangiga, Giporlos, Quinapondan, General MacArthur, Balangkayan, Llorente, Maydolong, Hernani, Salcedo, Mercedes and Guiuan are showing signs of recovery.

These towns in the southern half of the province took the brunt of Yolanda’s 300-kilometer-per-hour winds, which generated 7-meter storm surges that flattened entire communities.

The storm killed 265 people in the province and left 20 others missing, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Today, Eastern Samar shows a consistent pattern of newly built small houses, their galvanized-iron roofs shimmering in the sun against a backdrop of revived coconut trees.

Almost equaling the number of newly built houses are roadside posters, signs and markers identifying the organizations that donated money for housing, fishing boats, daycare centers, toilets and water supply facilities.

But the scars of the tragedy remain evident, with larger structures like business establishments and government offices remaining in ruins. Other houses look abandoned.

Worst-hit is the southernmost town of Guiuan, the first to take the wrath of Yolanda as it slammed into land.

Guiuan, a town of about 50,000 people formerly known for its abundant marine life and waters ideal for surfing, reported 101 people dead, with 16 others still missing.

The local disaster council reported that 100 percent of structures in the town’s 60 villages were damaged or destroyed. But residents say the town has recovered, though not completely.

“I would say full recovery may take several years. But at least now, we can say that things are getting back to normal,” said Oscar Bantilan, 61, a retired policeman.

Economic activity is brisk, with most vendors selling their merchandise on sidewalks and makeshift stalls at the damaged town market. But the construction of a new public market is under way, with help from various donors and assistance of P13 million from the national government.

Grocery stores, gas stations, bakeries and hardware stores on Layug Street, the main thoroughfare, are back in business.

Tax amnesty

Mayor Christopher Sheen Gonzales said the municipal government had declared a tax amnesty for all businesses to ease their burden and help them recover.

“Right now, I can safely say that we have accomplished about 65 percent of what needs to be done [in our rehabilitation efforts],” he said, citing the help of various donors.

Education and healthcare have also returned to normal, Gonzales said, with the help of aid organizations that took care of repairing and setting up schools, day care and health centers, and the town hospital.

Guiuan is also getting a new town hall, to be built with a P43-million loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). It will replace the old municipal hall that was damaged by Yolanda. Gonzales said construction was going on and residents may expect to be served at the new town hall by next August.

In the meantime, most offices under the local government are run from a large tent, while others are holding office in converted freight containers.

The municipal council holds its weekly sessions in a rented function room on another side of town. The room is owned by one of the mayor’s consultants.

Greatest loss

Across the road from the market stands what Guiuan residents consider their greatest loss: the ruins of the 17th century Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church, a national cultural heritage.

The town’s Catholic residents stake their claim for Guiuan as the bulwark of Christianity in the country, as it was Homonhon Island, about 30 kilometers off the town, that welcomed the fleet of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, leading to the discovery of the Philippines for the Old World on March 16, 1521.

As early as December last year, however, conservation advocates began drafting plans for the reconstruction of the church, with funding from various international organizations.

On Oct. 30, US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg said his government would donate $300,000 (P13.2 million) to help rebuild the church and “preserve cultural sites for future generations to enjoy.”

Partnerships

In their effort to help Guiuan, government agencies and international and local aid organizations agreed to a systematic sharing of responsibilities.

The organizations agreed to each adopt one or more barangays and take charge of an aspect of the relief program, ensuring that no duplication occurs.

For instance, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) provided temporary shelters, while the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), along with several international relief organizations, provided survivors safe water, sanitation and basic education.

Joint efforts to provide housing for the residents, such as putting up a resettlement site in Cogon village, are examples of public-private partnership, Gonzales said.

International foundations provided the structure, the local government took charge of finding a site while other civic groups took care of support facilities like water supply and sanitation, he said.

But aside from efforts to provide temporary housing for residents, the local government also faces another daunting task: to convince those living in tents and bunkhouses to move to the new site and to never return to their old communities on the coast.

“We must understand that these are fisherfolk and it will really be very difficult for them to live away from their livelihood. But those areas have already been declared no-build zones and it is our responsibility to move them away from places where they are vulnerable,” Gonzales said.

A year after Yolanda, the fishing wharves in Barangays 6, 7 and Hollywood have again started to teem with huts on stilts built by former residents who left the tent city.

“We cannot prevent them from returning to the seaside, knowing the dire situation that we have to endure [in the tent city],” said Alejandre Vallecas, a religious leader and the appointed camp leader.

Difficult life

The slow reconstruction has taken its toll on some of the families in the tent city who find it hard to live away from the sea, endure conditions in the tents like taking turns in the use of public toilets and depending on intermittent food rations.

Residents said living in the tents, already tattered and dirtied by the elements, became unbearable on hot and humid days. When it rains, rainwater drips inside, making the ground muddy. When the wind is strong, residents scamper to evacuation sites, fearing that their tents will be blown away.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), an intergovernmental organization that is in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), has taken responsibility for the displaced in a number of places in Eastern Samar.

The IOM is rushing to build 133 houses, called “transitional housing,” for those living in the tent city, on a 1.53-hectare site in Cogon village, about a kilometer from the town proper.

Cleto Abad, IOM provincial construction coordinator, said the houses had been designed to withstand winds of up to 250 kph, with a steel bar fastened to hold the roof in place, and a flat steel bar on the edges of the wall.

Measuring 5 meters by 3.6 meters, each house is actually an elevated hut that has coconut lumber for the main frame and floor, GI sheets for roof, and woven bamboo slats for walls. Each hut costs around P75,000.

“While these may not be considered their permanent residence, the houses will give them shelter for at least the next several years,” Abad said.

The site, with a newly cleared coconut plantation, was bought by Consuelo Foundation Inc., which donated it to the Guiuan municipal government.

Aside from housing, the site will have a women’s center, a daycare center and a basketball court, Abad said.

But the future looks uncertain for the Lacabas and other families in the tent city, as a number of issues remain unclear.

Will the residents get a title to the land? Will they pay for it? Will they be given livelihood? Where will they get water? How will they handle sewage and other waste?

“Those are issues that we and other concerned agencies are still trying to resolve,” Abad said.