Where the ships stand where the houses used to be

The neighborhood of Rawis Anibong is one of the most devastated areas in Tacloban. Directly at the shore, the flood wave razed everything to the ground without remorse. Huge ships standing where the houses used to stand testify the tremendous force of the water masses.

There are many sad stories around here. The one that is probably touching me the most is a man who is telling me that only him and his wife survived – his mother and five children all died. He sits in his makeshift shelter and you can feel his pain every single second.

It is a really dramatic scenery that looms here. “Where to start?” is the first thought that comes to mind. UNICEF decided that the first priority should be water, and together with partners like Oxfam installed three 10,000 liter water bladders that ensure access to safe drinking water for the approximately 600 families in the neighborhood. They are being refilled every day by the municipal water authorities. While, as a UNICEF Communications Specialist, it is of course my job to highlight the UNICEF achievements, I am really delighted to see this: A true partnership of the UN, NGOs, and the local authorities, and in the end it is the suffering people who benefit. And that is what it is all about.

After the typhoon, there was literally nothing left here anymore. In the meantime, most of the survivors knocked up provisional shelters or squatted the stranded ships. The hustle around the water taps shows that they indeed addressed a vitally important need. It is relieving to see that at least concerning water and hygiene, the affected people here seem safe. In addition to the water bladders, all survivors received so-called “hygiene kits” with soap, water purification tablets, light water cans to make it easy to carry and other items in a bucket, and there are safe, sealed latrines, that don’t pose any health threat – they are airtight, no odor is leaking, and they even have locks to provide at least this little bit of privacy to the affected people.

Also impressive: in front of a makeshift shelter, a couple of youth have organized a generator and are operating a charging station for mobile phones. I am counting thirty phones, which are being charged here for 20 pesos (30 Euro Cent). I realize what an invaluable contribution mobile phones play for the people in a moment like this. In a similar situation ten years ago, it would most probably have taken weeks or months until any form of communication would have been reestablished – with family members, friends, helpers, missed people or people that were transported to hospital. You can easily transfer credit from one phone to the other. Besides the clean water, another lifeline for the suffering people of Rawis Anibong.