YOLANDA SURVIVORS RETELL
STORIES OF HOPE, RESILIENCE
JOANNA Sustento-Bacsa, 32, has
already made peace with Yolanda
(Haiyan), the world’s most powerful
typhoon to hit land in recorded history
on November 8, 2013.
Ten years after losing most of her family
members, Susteno-Bacsa said that
there is “so much growth” happening to
her today as a Yolanda survivor and a
full-time mother to her first-born son.
"[My son] is a very symbolic person in
our family. His coming into our lives 10
years later really says a lot about how
much love grows in me, how much love
grows in our family," Sustento-Bacsa
said during a "reunion" with fellow
survivors aboard the Greenpeace
advocacy ship Rainbow Warrior docked
in Tacloban port.
“So much has changed, but we are still
here doing the work for climate justice,”
she added, as she now aligned herself
with an advocacy group of “climate
warriors.”
In 2017, she became the face of
Yolanda survivors in Tacloban City, the
super typhoon’s ground zero, when she
joined Greenpeace’s expedition in the
Arctic to protest oil drilling, which her
group blamed for climate impacts.
For Alren Beronio, a young
photographer in Borongan City,
Eastern Samar, he remembered how he
volunteered his skills for the Catholic
Church’s diocesan media office.
His documentation of the typhoon
devastation eventually led to him
landing a job at a local newspaper.
“I ventured into the affected areas of
our province, as well as Samar and
Leyte, to document the situation
through my photos and share it on
social media in an effort to seek help,”
Beronio said.
After documenting the different stories
of losses and survival in the devastated
areas, Beronio said he was “fortunate to
witness numerous opportunities for
assistance, realization about the
strength of human spirit, and countless
acts of kindness.”
“It was a time when we witnessed both
the depths of human suffering and the
heights of human compassion,” Beronio
said.
In a 2016 report, the United Nations
Office for Coordination said that the
total aid poured to Yolanda survivors
has reached $865,151,866 (P41.8
billion), with the United Kingdom as the
top donor.
While Borongan City Bishop Crispin
Varquez recalled the “lives lost, the
families shattered and the communities
uprooted,” he also pointed out the
“countless acts of heroism and
selflessness that emerged in the midst
of the chaos.”
“We acknowledge the pain and grief
that still linger in the hearts of those
who survived and continue to rebuild
their lives. And we recognize the hand
of God guiding us through the darkest
of moments," the prelate said.
In the town of Palo in Leyte, one of the
hard-hit areas during Haiyan,
Archbishop John Du of the Palo
Archdiocese led the celebration of the
feast of Our Lady of Hope on November
8.
“Our God has never abandoned us, and
he has given us a mother—a mother to
whom we could express our grieving,
sadness and mourning. She
accompanies us in the journey and
difficulties of life,” Du said.
During Pope Francis's visit to Tacloban
City, the Virgin of Hope of Palo was
placed on the open-air altar for the
Papal Mass held for the survivors on
January 17, 2015.
During the Mass, attended by
thousands of survivors in the central
Philippines, Pope Francis venerated the
Marian statue, while he referred to it as
a source of hope.
“We are like a little child in the
moments when we have so much pain
and no longer understand anything. All
we can do is grab hold of her hand
firmly and say, ‘Mother,’ like a child
does when it is afraid. It is perhaps the
only words we can say in difficult times
—‘Mother,’” Pope Francis said during
his homily at the Tacloban airport.
On Tuesday, November 7, a group of
“Climate Walkers” also arrived in
Tacloban after a 30-day journey from
Manila to Yolanda’s ground zero, for
solidarity work for climate justice with
the survivors for their 10th
commemorative activities.
“Our journey does not end here.
Because our real destination is in
people’s hearts and minds – for climate
hope to take root and yield results. As
we mark the 10th year since Typhoon
Haiyan devastated the country, let this
journey remind us that we are not
walking alone,” the Climate Walkers
said.
“Our voices, our family, and our hearts
are stronger than ever. And this
collective voice will resonate with the
whole world as we keep standing
together to call for climate justice,” they
added.
Captain Hettie Geenen of the Rainbow
Warrior said their second tour in
Tacloban “'left an impressive amount of
memories, especially from the stories
we heard just by listening to people.”
"[After Yolanda] I had to go out there
and learn how Tacloban should recover,
not only economically but also how to
preserve our resources and how do we
now correlate all the other issues
affecting our lives," said Tacloban
Mayor and Yolanda survivor Alfred
Romualdez, who also worked on climate
resilience in the city.
“While planetary problems require
global solutions, action must start in
the community. In a world that forces
us to forget and ignore, sharing stories
becomes a heroic act,” added climate
advocate Jerx Aliposa.