CEBU, Philippines - How do you convince a 79-year-old disaster survivor to go with you to a safer place when all that she wants, after a devastating experience, is to end her life because everyone else in her family is dead?
This was the question a rescue volunteer asked himself while on a rescue mission in Tacloban City after super typhoon Yolanda wreaked havoc in the Visayas region on November 8, 2013. Yolanda, with the international name Haiyan, is said to be the most destructive weather disturbance to have hit the planet so far.
Rescue volunteer Nagiel Bañacia’s experiences in Tacloban was one of the testimonials featured Tuesday night during the commemoration of the third year anniversary of the Yolanda tragedy and the launching of the book and photo exhibit “Haiyan the Aftermath: Images and stories of recovery in Samar and Leyte” at The Gallery in Ayala Center Cebu.
The book “Haiyan Aftermath: Images and Stories of Recovery in Samar and Leyte” is a commemoration of the strongest typhoon recorded at landfall and a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit.
Last November 10, 2013, two days after Yolanda devastated Tacloban City, then rescue volunteer Bañacia recalled finding an injured 79-year-old woman amid the ruins of her house.
Bañacia narrated that while the woman said she was happy to see the rescuers, she did not want to be taken to the hospital. The woman, he said, instead asked for medicine that would end her life, saying she did not want to live alone.
The woman, Bañacia said, had bruises all over her body, a face darkened from hematoma, a fractured skull and a broken left arm. She was the lone survivor from her household. Everyone in her family was dead.
“What for? I lost my family. Even if I survive, I do not have anyone else to take care of me,” a teary-eyed Bañacia recalled the woman as saying.
Bañacia, who is now the Cebu City Disaster Management Chief, admitted he was not able to control his emotions and cried in front of the woman as he pleaded for her to allow them to bring her to the hospital aboard the ambulance of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation.
The woman argued that if she will be taken to the hospital, nobody will take care of her and, if she survives the ordeal, she will be living all alone for the rest of her life.
It took the group some four hours to convince the woman to go with them. She eventually agreed after Bañacia promised that someone will stay with her in the hospital.
In 2014, a year after the tragedy, Bañacia went back to Tacloban City and purposely looked for the woman that his group rescued after Yolanda.
And he found her, living in a house that was comparably smaller to the one she was living in with her family before the devastating super typhoon. The woman was all alone in her new house and appeared to be lonely, he said.
“Nakonsensya ko when I saw her. This lady wanted to die. Now she is living all alone and may remain so for the rest of her life,” said Bañacia.
Another volunteer, Mylen Cogtas, who is still in her early 20s, shared her experiences while taking care of survivors in Tacloban with other volunteers from the Archdiocese of Cebu.
The experience, she said, changed her life. Her 21-day stay in Leyte following the Yolanda tragedy made her value life and family more after seeing many people who had lost their families to the super typhoon.
Cogtas, who cried while sharing her story, said she initially was hesitant to go to Tacloban. “When I got there, I ask the Lord if it is already the end of the world.”
“The people there showed me courage, hope, love, and faith. They always put a smile on their face,” she said.
“Haiyan Aftermath: Images and Stories of Recovery in Samar and Leyte”, the first of a series of books published by the University of San Carlos Press, is authored by award-winning Cebu-based writer and composer Lucien Letaba, who traces his roots to Samar province.
Letaba, who is famous for his award-winning Filipino box office films theme songs, said he felt anointed to be an instrument to tell people about the life-changing lessons from the survivors of the devastating typhoon.
Aside from showcasing the stories of the survivors, the book is also aimed at informing the public how to best prepare themselves for calamities, as well as how to cope when disasters strike.
The book will also be launched in the United States to raise funds. (FREEMAN)