Sir, – I still vividly remember the morning of November 8th, 2013. The wind howled through the trees and sheets of rain battered the buildings. The noise was deafening. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, hit the 16 islands and 14 mainland barangays of the municipality of Concepcion in the Philippines. It is only now, one year after the disaster, that a sense of normality is finally returning to our communities and our lives.
When the typhoon hit Concepcion, the devastation was immense. More than 5,000 houses were destroyed with a further 4,000 heavily damaged. Rooftops were blown off buildings, trees were ripped from the earth and roads quickly became blocked by debris.
It was two full days before contact was made and before any assistance could reach us.
The day after the typhoon struck, we began clearing the roads so that aid relief could get through to the affected towns.
Looking back, we were lucky in a way; we had fewer than 20 casualties while neighbouring towns reached more than 100. But the damage to people’s homes and livelihoods was colossal. It has been a long hard road to get back to what life was like before the disaster.
Concern Worldwide and other humanitarian agencies arrived quickly in the wake of the typhoon and began distributing assistance. With homes flattened and families bereft of belongings, the immediate needs were food and essential items such as tarpaulins to create shelter, cooking utensils and solar lights. Clean, safe drinking water was provided. The relief effort helped people to recover from the shock and enabled people to feed their families.
Fishing is central to our existence. However, the typhoon destroyed the coral reefs which sustain fish stocks in our seas. The amount of live coral reef was reduced from 85 per cent to 15 per cent, significantly reducing the amount of fish available. Fishermen who would typically collect 5-10 kg of fish per day were now only able to get a third of that at most. The fish that were available were smaller and less valuable in the marketplace.
To combat this, we instigated a coral transplantation programme with Concern. This is helping to restore the coral to previous levels. Alongside this, it was vital to rebuild fishing boats in order to ensure people were able to earn a living.
We have established a municipal disaster risk reduction council, which strives to make us more prepared and less vulnerable to future typhoons. Buildings are now being constructed to be more resilient to high winds and heavy rainfall. We now have designated evacuation centres. We monitor weather patterns in typhoon season to predict what areas will be affected and how bad the effects are likely to be.
To the good people of Ireland, to the Irish public, I know that your heart was with us when we were hit by the typhoon. Thank you for helping us during the difficult time after the disaster. The Irish people will long be remembered by the people of Concepcion. God bless you! – Yours, etc,
MILLIARD VILLANUEVA,
Mayor of Concepcion,
Iloilo Province,
The Philippines.