By: Ma. Cristina P. Lao
On November 6, 2013, two days before the super storm Yolanda hit our country, we were warned by the government via TV news telecasts that this super storm was dangerous and we should take necessary precautions. Yolanda was anticipated as more harmful than hurricane Sandy, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in the United States. We've seen the satellite pictures and videos of the vastness of clouds that has engulfed almost the entire nation.
Unfortunately, I think nobody knew what a storm surge was or how dangerous it was. We had been warned that sea water levels may reach up to five meters during the storm surge, but I think nobody knew that the effects of a storm surge would reach the nearby land areas like that of a Tsunami. Unfortunately some places that were believed to be safe like schools were also destroyed and may have killed thousands of lives as the count is still ongoing as of this moment.
November 6, 2013, 9PM: Panic buying was evident in most supermarkets and stores in Southern part of Cebu City, where I live. All the noodles, canned goods, batteries, flashlights, garbage plastic bags were swept off the shelves. I was a bit calmer and decided to have my shopping the next day, as I don't want to shop with lots of people pushing each other.
November 7, 2013: I woke up early and observed the sky. It's so cloudy but there was still no rain. My focus was to update myself about the storm and checked out the news on TV, the news highlight was about Napoles' Senate Hearing, the alleged mastermind of scandal involving billions of pesos in pork barrel funds. I was not so interested about the senate inquiry, so I changed to another local channel. Well, all channels were about Napoles, so I changed the channel to CNN, there the newscaster discussed about storm surge that it can go to the land areas. It never occurred in my mind that the effect of a storm surge was somewhat like of a strong flood or a Tsunami that would pose a threat to people on land.
November 7, 3PM: I went shopping for some food and was looking for black bags or garbage bags to cover our appliances like TV and computers. To my surprise there's not one garbage bag, or any kind of bag available. No more plastic cup noodles. It was like the grocery store has been robbed with the most common commodity like rice and canned goods. Even though there was not enough goods for me to buy, we were able to prepare beforehand rice, canned goods, water, emergency kit, and bags with some clothes, in case our house was destroyed. If in case there was flooding we were ready to run to a 5-floor pension house, which was twenty steps away from our apartment. We were ready for the storm.
November 8, 2013: I woke up around 5:45 a.m. Electricity was still on. The TV and radio coverage was all about the storm hitting Tacloban first. At around 8 am, I saw an ABS-CBN newscaster in Tacloban who was getting a video of the pier and the storm as the wind was becoming so strong. I said to myself, "What is this? He must be very brave or out of his mind." I had no idea that it was ABS-CBN news reporter Atom Araullo at that time. Their video was able to show water starting to flow up the houses and almost reached the roofs. Then suddenly their video coverage was out. OMG what happened to the ABS-CBN news crew?
November 8, 2013, 9AM: Electricity was out. OMG, this is it! My two boys age 8 and 11 were just very quiet and observant. My younger child asked me if our house would be destroyed any moment that day. I told him, "No, it will not be destroyed." And keeps on asking me, "What if it will be destroyed, what will happen to us?" I told him, "It's okay as long as we are alive, we will be fine." I expected broken windows or at least the water to come in our house, but that did not happen. The wind was like concentrated on the top. The radio was still on, so we were able to hear most of the storm's development, until the radio stations cannot contact any of their co-reporters in the fields. Everyone started to worry. What happened to all our neighboring cities in Cebu like Bogo, Daan Bantayan or other islands like Leyte? We thought the effect in other areas were the same as in the Southern part of Cebu City. Maybe because their cell phones are low bat or telephone lines cut off, so they were not able to contact anyone outside their cities.
November 8, 2013 11PM: Electricity came back. Wow! This is great, we can sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is another day. I prayed and hoped that everyone were safe, unaware of the aftermath....
"To be continued with pictures..."
