Search for typhoon survivors a hellish task
Print Edition
John Lajara peers under a slab of crumbled concrete, lifts a sodden white teddy bear then drops it back. He reaches again into the rubble and pulls out a boot, a treasured find in this typhoon-flattened village. But he’s searching for something far more precious — the body of his brother, Winston.
For those still looking for loved ones missing since last week’s storm, their already torn-apart lives are shot through with a difficult question — How do you move on when there is no body to bury?
The search for the missing — 1,179 by official count — has become a hellish daily activity for some. In Lajara’s seaside village, residents estimate that about 50 of the 400 people who lived there were killed. About half of the dead are still missing: mothers, fathers, children and friends.
“Somehow, part of me is gone,” Lajara said as another fruitless expedition in the rubble ended yesterday.
Lajara has carried out the routine since both he and his brother were swept from their house by Typhoon Haiyan last week. And every day has ended so far with no answers on Winston’s fate.
According to the latest figures by the Philippines’ main disaster agency, 3,633 people died and 12,487 were injured. Many bodies remain tangled in piles of debris, or are lining the road in body bags that seep fetid liquid. Some are believed to have been swept out to sea.
After the initial days of chaos, when no aid reached the more than 600,000 people rendered homeless, an international aid effort was gathering steam.
“We’re starting to see the turning of the corner,” said John Ging, a top United Nations humanitarian official in New York. He said 107,500 people have received food assistance so far and 11 foreign and 22 domestic medical teams are in operation.
United States Navy helicopters flew sorties from the aircraft carrier USS George Washington off the coast, dropping water and food to isolated communities. The US military said it will send about 1,000 more troops along with additional ships and aircraft to join the aid effort.
So far, the US military has moved 174,000 kilograms of supplies and flown nearly 200 sorties.
The focus of the aid effort is on providing life-saving aid for survivors, while the search for missing people is lower in the government’s priorities.
The head of the country’s disaster management agency, Eduardo del Rosario, said the coast guard, the navy and civilian volunteers are searching the sea for the dead and the missing.
Lajara’s neighbor, Neil Engracial, cannot find his mother or nephew, but he has found many other bodies. He points at a bloated corpse lying in the debris. “Dante Cababa — he’s my best friend,” Engracial says. He points to another corpse rotting in the sun. “My cousin, Charana.” She was a student, just 22.
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