My Personal Experiences of Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)

It has been more than one year after the super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) hit our place in Tacloban City,Leyte but it is still fresh on my mind on what happened on that day! Let me share my personal experiences during that time.

On November 7, 2013, before the super typhoon Yolanda hit our place, we were preparing for the said typhoon. We bought groceries, flashlights, radio, etc. to keep updated of the typhoon. At night, my husband called over the phone to tell me to prepare our things because we would evacuate to their camp at SPOW, DZR Airport, Tacloban City. He thought that staying in their base was safe since his colleagues were there. They were all soldiers. At that night, I was so happy playing with my kids. Their names are Gnacy Pearl and Gnacy May. My elder daughter slept at around 1 AM. She wanted to sleep beside her father. On the other hand, my younger daughter slept beside me. For the whole night, we hugged each other while sleeping. When I woke up in the morning, my arms were tired. We woke up around 4:00 AM, November 8, 2013 because we could already hear the strong sound of the wind. It was like an airplane. We were listening to the radio to get updates about the typhoon. The typhoon made a landfall at around 4:45 AM in Guiuan, Eastern Samar.

"The Place where We Stayed When the Super Typhoon Yolanda Hit Our Place"

My two daughters were playing and they were dancing. At around 5:30 AM, the wind was getting stronger and stronger. The roof  was blown away of the strong wind. I was able to take a video and posted it on my facebook account. (Yolanda) At around 6 AM, the mobile network signal was lost. The wind and rain became stronger and stronger. We went inside the barracks. Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed because of the strong wind and the windows were broken. To protect my kids, we stayed under the double deck-bed. They put the plywood and foam at the top of the deck to protect us from the broken glasses. My two daughters were not crying. They didn’t know what happened. I was so nervous. I kissed my younger daughter and hugged her tightly. I fed her with milk but she didn’t want. I gave her a biscuit but she just held it. After few minutes, my husband heard some noise outside. It seemed that someone knocked the door. When he opened the door, he saw the water from the sea. He shouted, “Climb!” He took my two daughters. He gave my elder daughter to his colleague. He held my younger daughter so that I could climb to the roof. We held in the steel truss. The water raised quickly. At first, it was just knee-length, then waist-length and then beyond human's height. The height of the sea water was 7 meters high. We stayed in the roof for few minutes. My husband was holding our younger daughter while the colleague of my husband was holding my elder daughter. I was looking at my elder daughter carefully. She was holding a rosary that my mother gave to her. The wind and rain were very strong. We couldn't see anything. It was plain white. The roof was shaking because of the big waves. Suddenly, there was a big wave hit us. The roof collapsed and we didn't have a choice but to jump to the sea water. I didn't know what happen to my elder daughter. She was separated from us.

"My Two Gorgeous Daughters"

I was with my husband and younger daughter. We didn't know where we were. We saw some of our neighbors in the middle of the sea but after few minutes, they were gone. The wind and rain were so strong. The rain was so painful and it was like a needle. The sea water was turning. It was like we were inside the washing machine. We couldn't turned back. We swam in the sea for more than 3 hours. I saw my daughter's face bleeding because of the debris. My husband's head was bleeding as well because he was hit by a galvanized iron sheet. His wound was big. Because of the consecutive big waves, my younger daughter slipped from the arm of my husband and she was carried by the wave. I've already given up and I told my husband, “Good Bye and I Love You So Much” because I couldn't breathe anymore. I drank a lot of dirty water because I used my mouth to breathe. I had an asthma at that time. However, my husband didn't give up. He held me tightly. He got a banana stem. He let me ride on it. He held my clothes until we saw a two-storey house. We didn't know what place we were. We aimed to climb on that 2-storey house but it was difficult for me because of many big waves. Because of those big waves, my head bumped on the cement. I thought I would die because my head was aching and a lot of blood came out from my wound. I lost my consciousness for few minutes. Nevertheless, my husband didn't let me go. His right hand was holding in the band while his left hand was holding my clothes. He did his best to wake me up. I could hear his voice so I tried my eyes to open but only my right eye. I saw a hand and I held it. My husband pulled me up. He covered me with his body. He didn't have any shirts. He only wore a boxer short. All the debris and big waves hit him. He endured all the pain just to protect me. He hugged me tightly. The level of the water slowly went down. He got a blanket from the first floor to cover me up to minimize the coldness I felt. The wind became weaker and the water went down, we saw the Sto. Nino church. So, we were already at the downtown area. All of the houses were broken. Three men saw us and they told us that we were in Magallanes. They helped us to go to a bigger house. The people in that big house gave us clothes and medicine for my wound. We were so hungry because we didn't have breakfast and lunch yet. It was around 2 PM when we reached the downtown area. My husband made some ways to go to the hospital because my wound was bleeding so much. He left for few minutes and he asked for a help from the coastguards. They helped us to go to the highway.My husband carried me on his back because I couldn't walk anymore.It was really difficult for him because there were a lot of debris such as nails, woods, and even dead bodies. He didn't have any slippers but he didn't mind it.

"My Brave Husband with our Adorable Angels"

We rode in a dum truck in order to go to the hospital but it couldn't pass because of the debris on the street. We get off the drum truck and my husband carried me again on his back from Real Street (Three Sixty Pharmacy) going to the Bethany hospital. Some of the staff of ABS-CBN helped us. They guided us going to the hospital. The nurse put only bethadine to my wound because it couldn't be stitched because there was no available anesthesia. I was very hungry and the staffs of ABS-CBN asked some crackers from other people. They gave it to me. We were crying so hard because we lost our two daughters and we didn't know what happened to my mother and my siblings. A couple felt pity to us. They brought us to their boarding house. They were so kind. They gave us foods, clothes and a bed to sleep on.

"Our Faces after the Typhoon"

On the next day, November 9, 2013, we heard the sound of C130 and helicopters. We decided to go back to the airport. We walked from downtown area going to the airport. While we were walking, we saw a lot of animals and people's dead bodies. We saw my husband's colleague and he told us that my mother and my two siblings were alive but my elder daughter was missing. They were able to survive by holding in the coconut tree for more than 2 hours. 

After few hours of walking, we reached the DZR Airport. We saw my husband's colleagues. The person who was holding my elder daughter asked "Sorry" for not saving her. It was very painful knowing that I lost my two daughters. We rode on C130 going to Cebu, Philippines. I needed to go to the hospital immediately to treat my wound. We met my mother and my two siblings on Sunday afternoon (November 10, 2013). 

"My Mother and My Siblings"

After the typhoon, everything is changed. It made my life miserable for many months. It affects my life so much. Since my head bumped on the cement, I have now hyposmia. Hyposmia is a reduced ability to smell and to detect odors. I hope everything will be okay in the near future!