Hope amidst adversity: The lessons of Yolanda
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.”
The late American psychiatrist and book author Elisabeth Kübler-Ross might as well have been talking about the survivors of typhoon Yolanda, because a year after the onslaught of the killer typhoon, whose intensity and strength was described by meteorologists as “off the charts,” Filipinos continue to display the indomitable spirit that has earned for them the admiration of the global community.
Typhoon Yolanda left over 6,000 people dead, with 1,800 missing or presumed dead — close to the estimate made by police chief superintendent Elmer Soria who was subsequently fired as Eastern Visayas chief for placing the number of fatalities at 10,000. The killer typhoon displaced millions from their homes, with the cost of damage placed at over P30 billion — making the work of rehabilitation truly daunting especially in the most devastated areas like Tacloban City.
But as Archbishop Jose Palma said in the aftermath of the typhoon, the Filipino soul is stronger, with faith in God made deeper by the kindness and compassion shown by locals as well as citizens from the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, Germany and other nations in the European Union. From civilians to men in uniform, young and old, rich or poor, everyone pitched in either through donations in cash or in kind, time and effort; many participated in repackaging relief items, or just uttered a fervent prayer for the safety of survivors.
It is this resiliency of spirit that gives continued strength to the citizens of Tacloban City, with Mayor Alfred Romualdez confident that the typhoon-devastated city will rise again — not only figuratively but literally starting with a 400-hectare township that will have disaster-resilient homes, health centers, schools and other structures to create “the new frontier in the north.”
One important lesson that Yolanda has imparted is the need for cities to be disaster-resilient, adopt policies and plans to incorporate disaster resilience and risk reduction management to protect lives and property, and spread awareness among people about the effects of climate change.
