Excerpts from the Leyte Diary of Dianna Callejo Cruz, our Mingo Mission volunteer, who went to Leyte after supertyphoon Haiyan for Mingo Missions.
Getting to Cebu, from the DFC Warehouse, via a taxi, we transported the Mingo boxes in Pier 4. We had to do 2 trips. Then, I opted to take the SuperCat ferry to Ormoc, where the NVC ID was of use. The cargo rate was less for us, I just needed to pay the porter in the port terminal.
I arrived in Ormoc almost 3 hours later. Three boxes were endorsed to Brgy. Naungan of Ormoc. Mingo boxes were transported by a group of fishermen.
We rented a van/truck to bring the remaining Mingo boxes to Tacloban proper from Ormoc. It took us almost 3 hours land trip to get to the Volunteers for the Visayans (VFV) office that was located in Brgy. Bliss, Tacloban City.
There is a transportation shortage and rental or diesel price is three times more than normal. Actually, everything is scarce. The land trip was really a visual experience to grasp how Yolanda had broken so many dreams and promises especially in towns of Tolosa and Tacloban.
No single street, road or house was spared during the surge. And truly, among the typhoon-hit areas, it is Tacloban City that was really wrecked to pieces.
These areas are located in the coastline of Tacloban City where most of the dead bodies were found. Literally, homes were crushed into pieces.
National offices, commercial buidings, residential areas, hospitals, and schools were smashed by the surge in all corners of Tacloban district. Ironically, other nearby towns, are in better standing, even some islands, they have damages though nothing can be compared how wrecked the center of Leyte is.
These photos are taken almost a month after the storm surge happened. Locals say they are in a better situation now than the first two weeks after Yolanda landed.
Yes, aid from various organizations is continuously coming into Leyte and Samar, especially in Tacloban City. Domestic and international groups are doing ground work while the UN Council (composed of coordinators from different NGOs) determines the distribution of resources from one area to another, and groups would always have the remarks saying “in three months time, donated goods will run out.” They are trying to figure out how it will be, when January comes and onwards of which domestic counterparts (National Gov’t, LGU and local NGOs) will be on their own.
Selected banks and lucky stores are slowly operating after two weeks from the day of the surge.
The hard hit areas really would be Ormoc, Tolosa and Tacloban. Other towns in Leyte and Samar survived with minimal or zero casualties, nearby islands are in better condition than the mentioned areas.
Wim-Wim Canayong of the Volunteers of the Visayans walked me through the sites from Ormoc and a portion of Samar.
The Mingo Mission was not conducted the way as we did it in Zamboanga City and Bohol. In Leyte, we did it family by family and room to room in the evacuation centers, and walked around the barangays to give Mingo packs.
The 6-month feeding program will begin by January when the Volunteers for the Visayans (VFV) are ready. At the moment, UN Coordinators have suggested that we proceed with our project once the community has settled with a more comfortable or convenient environment. Most of the children who attend free public day care in the centers are also displaced.
Wim-Wim Canayong is now preparing the dynamics for Tacloban’s Mingo Feeding Project and she will send the details within the month after identifying the right beneficiaries.
I left Tacloban with too many images still flashing in my mind. The only realization I brought home with me is that all kinds of giving would make sense in helping the people of Leyte, Samar and especially Tacloban to start their lives again with all the lessons learned.