Foreign aid workers carry out task under rain in Tacloban
TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—A heavy rain in typhoon-shattered Tacloban City did not dampen the spirit of foreign aid workers lending a hand to relief operations in the aftermath of the worst typhoon to ever hit the Philippines.
Belgian foreign aid workers were sighted moving their equipment to a truck near the tarmac under the heavy rain.
The workers were totally soaked but they did not seem to mind.
“We are ready to go in five minutes but there is no truck,” a member of a French medical team said hours before the downpour.
He said they had been staying at the airport since Wednesday, waiting to be deployed in areas hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan).
But after the strong rain, the foreign volunteers were already deployed and were out of the airport.
Trucks were rare in the city because gas stations have not yet reopened, making fuel limited only to those who want to get around and deliver relief goods or medical aid. Additional military trucks have yet to arrive.
Relief efforts have started to pick up amid criticisms that the national government was dealing with it slowly.
The thousands of survivors hoping to get a flight out of the city have been reduced as regular foreign and Philippine C-130 flights out of the city accommodated them. By nighttime, the people lining up were reduced to a few hundred. Planes now flew even at nighttime, making the relief operations more efficient.
The survivors hoping to get a free transportation endured the heavy downpour and remained to their queues near the tarmac, refusing to give up their slots.
“We want to survive. We need to stay alive,” Mylene Kakatimbang, one of those who did not give up her queue even amid heavy rain.
This meant that Philippine soldiers also had to endure the rain themselves, in order to maintain security and order. They also gave out food and water now and then to the people hoping to get a flight.
The USS George Washington, while closing in to shore near Samar, already started its helicopters working. It had been sending relief to affected areas including this city.
This was seen to give a big boost to the relief efforts, as the aircraft carrier has a lot of choppers.
On Thursday, Tacloban City also began to bury their dead. But more bodies were believed to be still recovered. On the streets, dozens of body bags were still lined up.
Official death toll in the city as of early Thursday was at 2,000. City administrator Atty. John Tecson Lim estimated that there could be 10,000 deaths from the city alone. President Benigno Aquino is more conservative with his estimate.
“Maybe he doesn’t want to create too much panic. He could be grappling with whether he wants to reduce the panic so that life goes on,” Tecson said.
Tacloban City has a population of 235,000.
