PALO, Leyte- Aside from helping in the rehabilitation of damaged or destroyed public buildings due to supertyphoon Yolanda, the Korean contingent has also offer a part of their culture to the Leytenos: their language. And with the current popularity of the so-called K-pop culture to include the “koreanovelas” shown in the national televisions, it’s no wonder why many local, particularly the youth, are wanting to learn the Korean language. For weeks now, students at the Pawing High School in Barangay Pawing in Palo, Leyte were given the chance to learn and study the Korean language with the members of the “Araw” contingents as their teachers. The Korean language classes starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 10 a.m. for all weekdays, except on Wednesday. Giving free studies of their language is part of the social rehabilitation intervention that the South Korean Araw Forces is doing while doing their share in the repair of public schools destroyed by Yolanda, said Lt. Hwang Dea Heung, who serves as one of the teachers. Learning the language will not only make the local understand Koreans but will also allow and give them better opportunity in finding a job in their country, Heung said. There are two types of examination for non-native Koreans to test their Korean language proficiency that could help the locals land a job in their country, he added. These are the Korean language proficiency test and the test of proficiency in Korean. In the TOPIK test, there are three different difficulty levels- the beginner, intermediate and the advance which determined to the difficulty level of the test taken. “Our language is hard to understand. But these children are eager to learn it that makes it easy for me to teach them,” Hwang said. Most of his students are either fan of Korean pop band and Koreanovelas. To make the study of the language easier, a Korean film is being shown to make them more familiar with the language and how to pronounce properly. Rachel Liones, one of the students, said that it needs enthusiasm to learn the Korean language. “You need to learn it by heart for you to understand and learn easily the language,” she said. Liones said that it would now be easy for her to talk with the Koreans using their own language and that she could earn an income as an interpreter.

(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

TACLOBAN CITY- Six months after her horrible experience due to supertyphoon Yolanda, radio broadcaster Jazmin Bonifacio said that could now sleep peacefully at night, but only when it is not raining outside. “When it rains, I would still wake up at night, then sometimes finding myself trembling or in the midst of tears or start looking for my bag and check the windows if there is flood outside. But I’m slowly trying to overcome the fear. Others suffered worst than I did,” Bonifacio said, recalling how she and other staff of DyDW (Radyo Diwa) climbed to the roof minutes after storm surges slammed the announcer’s booth while she was onboard informing the listeners on the last position of super typhoon Yolanda at about 5:15 a.m. on November 8, 2013. Last May 3, Bonifacio, who is now connected with humanitarian radio station Radyo Abante, joined other 42 media practitioners in Tacloban together with personnel of the Philippine Information Agency headed by its regional director, Olive Tiu, in celebrating the World Press Freedom Day and commemorating also the death of other eight local media who perished during the storm. Killed during Yolanda were Archie Globio (DyBR), Malou Realino (DyBR), Ronald Viñas (DyVL), Allan Medino (DyVL), Engr. Gregorio Caing (EV Mail), Chito Lopez (DyBR) and Ariel Aguillon (Bombo Radyo-Tacloban). Others also died few days immediately after the storm were Carolina “Rolly” Montilla of DyVL/ACC, Justenry “Henry” Lagrimas, a veteran radio announcer and Abelardo “Dindo” Orteza, associate editor-in-chief of Leyte Samar Daily Express. The bodies of Globio and Viñas are yet to be recovered. Fr. Amadeo Alvero, media coordinator of the Palo Archdiocese and an assisting priest of the Sto. Nino Parish, led in offering prayers and blessed the venue of the event at the city’s Noblejas Junction, a memorial named after DyVL broadcaster Ramon “Monching” Noblejas who was shot and killed last October 4, 1987. “As they do their job, keep their hearts from despair. Give them courage and let steadfastness shines on the hearts. May they really possess freedom the media should have, that they may cherish it for the good and progress of our society,” Alvero said in his prayers as media participants lighted candles and offered flowers to their departed colleagues. Tiu also congratulated the local media for their dedication amid the difficult situation they are facing after Yolanda destroyed their various media outlets and even their homes. “Would you believe that our media in Easter Visayas are visibly determined to keep their job after Yolanda even without asking for remuneration. They are doing their part not thinking of themselves even they are also victims. The media men I saw on the first day after Yolanda are still media practitioners today,” Tiu said. For broadcaster Allan Amistoso, he said the situation in Tacloban remains hopeful for him, in spite of the sadness he felt for his dead colleagues. He added the storm opens bigger opportunities for other local media to be recognized. “Tacloban is the ground zero, and many stories happened here which practically the entire world is interested to know.”(RONALD O.REYES)

TACLOBAN CITY – Six months after supertyphoon Yolanda slammed into the central Philippines, foreign aid supporting the United Nations (UN) Strategic Response Plan (SRP) have already reached US$ 441.26 million or 56 percent of the US$ 788 million requirement. Financial aid from private individuals and organizations has reached $127.22 million, accounting 28.8 percent of the total contribution for SRP, according to the UN’s Financial Tracking Service. So far, Canada has been the top donor to the recovery plan at $ 45.43 million, which accounts 10.3% percent of the total donations for SRP, the UN’s blueprint in responding to the immediate needs of the affected population. Other top 10 donors are the United Kingdom ($ 45.02 million), United States ($ 40.11) Japan ($ 30.50 million), European Commission ($ 28.19 million), Central Emergency Response Fund ($ 25.28 million) Australia ($ 20.62 million), Norway ($ 15.85 million), and Germany ($10.98 million). Of the $ 441.26 million, $ 3.32 million will be for camp coordination and camp management, $ 8.29 million for coordination, $31.94 million for early recovery and livelihood, $ 27.60 million for education, $ 73.79 million for emergency shelter, $ 1.78 million for emergency telecommunications, $ 121.03 million for food security and agriculture, $49.53 million for health, $ 22.38 million for logistics, $ 13.34 million for nutrition, $ 20.29 million for protection, and $ 61.53 million for water and sanitation. The SRP, which will be carried out until November 2014, was designed to complement the Philippine government’s Rehabilitation Assistance on Yolanda (RAY). Tagged as priority in the SRP are 171 municipalities in 14 provinces and six regions along Yolanda’s path. There are about 14 million people affected in these areas, according to the UN OCHA. The plan will benefit three million people where they will get direct assistance through programmes planned by the Food Security and Agriculture cluster interventions. Target population are three million for water, sanitation and hygiene; 2.2 million for camp coordination and camp management; 550,000 for education; 500,000 for emergency shelter; 300,000 for nutrition; 400,000 for early recovery and livelihoods; “More than seven million people will benefit from support to health services and up to five million people will receive benefit from protection-related activities,” the plan stated. Listed as priority interventions under the plan are provision of shelter assistance for the emergency and recovery phases; food assistance, nutritional support and agricultural inputs; remove debris from public spaces and recycle for use in reconstruction; minimizing environmental impact, restore water systems and access to sanitation facilities in communities, schools and health care facilities.

(SARWELL Q.MENIANO)

TACLOBAN CITY – A study of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) concluded that 94% of the total number of the supertyphoon Yolanda casualties were killed by storm surges. In its report recently released, the GIZ said that in badly devastated coastal areas of Tacloban City, Palo, and Tanauan, only 6% of victims died due to strong winds. In Tacloban, of the 2,496 estimated casualties, 2,297 of them perished due to big waves. In the nearby town of Palo, 1,033 of the 1,089 fatalities were caused by rising seawater. Similarly, Tanauan town had 1,252 casualties with 1,207 of them were killed by storm surges.
“It is concluded that the main killer was strong waves from the storm surge and to a much lesser extent, river floods, flash floods, landslides, and powerful winds,” the study said. Citing reports from the Department of Science and Technology, the maximum water height was 5.16 meters. The seawater reached up to 1,100 meters far in Tacloban, 960 meters in Palo, and 560 meters in Tanauan. While tagging storm surge as the main killer, the GIZ said that a big number of people could have been saved had the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) explained clearly what a storm surge is.
“If those who died in the storm surge would have been properly warned and they would have evacuated to safer areas, a death rate similar to the inland areas would have applied to them. This means roughly 94% of them would still be alive today,” the GIZ study concluded. The German agency noted that Pagasa did not issue any storm surge warning until a day before the disaster that killed more than 6,000 people and rendered nearly 2,000 people still missing, according to official data.
Among the storm surge casualties were the family of 54-year-old Salvacion Abas of the coastal village of San Roque in Tanauan. Five of her family members perished – a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. Abas recalled that they were already inside the evacuation center a day before but returned to their house in the evening since the weather was fine. When big waves hit their makeshift house, they were swept away, with five of Abas’ family members killed.
“Had the police told us that there would be a tidal wave or tsunami, we could have moved to the next town for safety,” she added. Abas and her husband survived by clinging to empty containers they used in storing a local wine. The GIZ study found that only one source of storm hazard maps is known, thus indicating that storm surge hazard was “underestimated in the past.” “The Pagasa maps only included up to four meter water heights, but its forecast for the Haiyan (international name of Yolanda) surge height was seven meters,” the GIZ said.

(SARWELL Q.MENIANO)

TACLOBAN CITY- Mayor Alfred Romualdez of this Supertyphoon Yolanda-ravaged city expressed his gratitude to the various international humanitarian groups and to the national government which helped the people of the city during the massive disaster that occurred six months ago. Romualdez made his appreciation last May 6 before members of media during which he presented his master plan on the recovery effort of his administration for Tacloban, considered the ground zero of Yolanda. “I thank the different countries, international groups for coming; who risk their lives and sacrifice to work here. We greatly appreciate it,” Romualdez said. Romualdez also said that it is the people who should be the better judge if the national government is helping enough the people of Tacloban during this crisis. “Do I feel I’m being abandoned? You know I feel that there is a big problem and we have to address it. When it comes to those being abandoned, I think ang pinaka-maganda dun let us ask the people. Let them be the one to judge, not me. All I am saying is that… here is our problem; we need all the help we can get,” Romualdez said. But Romualdez said that whatever possible shortcomings of the national government in extending assistance to Tacloban, it’s because that there are still other areas affected by Yolanda. “So let’s give enough slack to the national government to now get all these resources together, plan it properly and let’s just make it properly. That is how I see it. I don’t want the people to lose focus,” he said. Romualdez had earlier chided the national government for not helping enough Tacloban during the disaster. Aside from the food packs and the bunk houses intended for those who totally lost their houses, the national government did not give enough to Tacloban, city officials claimed. During his recent visit, Local Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, whom Romualdez had earlier engaged in a word war, personally handed the former a check worth P240 million intended for the repair of public buildings destroyed during the typhoon. Romualdez said that while he acknowledges the financial assistance, its purpose should have been focused for the construction of permanent shelters for those who lost their homes. About 30,513 houses were totally destroyed during the typhoon while another 27,718 houses sustained damages. In the absence of the permanent homes, about 2,228 families are either living in bunk houses, tents or at the evacuation centers which are mostly public schools, records of the Mayor’s Office revealed. Mayor Romualdez said under the Tacloban Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan (TRRP), the city needs at least P3 billion of which around P2 billion would be needed to relocate these families to the resettlement area identified by the city government. The resettlement area, dubbed by the mayor as “new township,” is located in the barangays of Sto. Nino, New Kawayan, Tagpuro and Palanog, covering more than 70 hectares. The city government plans to construct 10,191 houses with each unit estimated to cost P220, 000 or total amount of P2.2 billion. Of the 10,191 housing units planned to be constructed in the resettlement area, about 1,000 of them were committed by various groups like Gawad Kalinga,GMA Kapuso Foundation, Habitat for Humanity and Philippine Red Cross, among others. Some of these houses were started last January and expected to be finished by next month.

(JOEY A.GABIETA)