7:22 AM —- I have not had coffee nor breakfast. I am sitting on the floor, in the rear of a Philippine Air Force C-130 transport plane leaning against an assortment of bags and boxes of relief goods bound for Tacloban, Leyte. This is the first leg of the trip that will eventually take me to St. Bernard to the site of the Guinsaugon disaster. There are about 50 relatives of surors and victims of the Guinsaugon tragedy crammed into the hull of this flying tin can. The rest are media people and Philippine Air Force personnel. I think I chose the wrong spot. I could feel the bags and boxes pushing against me as we take-off for out flight.
10:22 AM — Step 1 completed: We’ve arrived at the Tacloban airport. It’s hot! I have to keep hydrating myself and I quickly feel the weight lightening off my camel back as I take sips from the hose. I’ve got another 6 pack of water in my backpack to keep me going these next few days, but at the rate I was swigging water I fear that I may have not brought enough.
We are waiting at the VIP Lounge. This air-conditioned area has been turned into the US Marines’ airport command post. Fatigue-clad personnel scurry about talking into radios and carrying boxes of all kinds. In the middle of the room, boxes of MRE’s are stacked up against a planter box for easy access. And for once, military efficiency has made going to an airport’s women’s toilet a pleasant experience by making sure that toilet paper, paper towels and soap have been all provided.
Two Indonesian Air Force planes arrived bearing relief goods and rescue personnel. Outside, US Marines and Philippine Army troops load a truck with mineral water and fuel for generator sets.
In between lulls of activity, a US Marine take in the sight from the tarmac and click off a few shots on their digi cams. Several members of the media, a Turkish rescue team, an Army PAO and myself are all waiting to hear what time we can hitch a flight out to St. Bernard on a Chinook helicopter. We were given a pre-flight briefing and Step 2 of the travel leg is nearly done. Next thing to do is to find a place to sleep in tonight.
2:00 PM — After nearly 20 minutes circling off the coast of St. Bernard we finally arrived at the St. Bernard base camp site. I gingerly make my way through the soft and mushy ground being careful not to keel over from all the weight I am carrying. As soon as I get closer to the camp, I see CNN’s Hugh Rimington discussing the situation with some other people. Out of nowhere I hear someone say, “Hey cuz!” It was Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, running around with CNN.
Tents are pitched all along the river bank. Four wheel drive vehicles compete with military vehicles for access on the narrow dirt road in and out of camp. It is disorganized organization and it’s difficult to ascertain who is in charge. The American presence is overwhelming. Fatigue green is the color of the day. Gigantic bladders with “Drinking Water” stenciled on it are attached to filtration systems. I went to look for the Philippine National Red Cross and their K-9 team and found them on a spot along the river next to the US medivac area. I immediately pitch Kath and Kevin’s tent next to the Red Cross’ tent. The sun was still out, but gray clouds were looming over the horizon and soon enough they would hit us. At about 3PM I leave base camp with two Red Cross volunteers to head out for Barangay Magatas.
The most immediate access way to the site is to cross the river; however, the walk is torturously long through mushy earth. We chose to access the site via Magatas from where we walked for about 30 minutes along a dirt road. As soon as we reached the periphery of the landslide area the change in scenery was striking. Officials estimate that about 20-30 metres of rock and earth blew out from the top of the mountain and buried . I was now looking straight into a barren landscape of volcanic soil and boulders instead of lush green rice fields and coconut covered slopes. Locals say that they heard rumblings that sounded like heavy machinery or helicopters before the mountain top exploded and spewed out what they thought was black smoke. It turned out to be soil and rocks which eventually rained down upon Guinsaugon.
We made our way to a site thought to have been the original location of a school house where over 200 children and their teachers were trapped in. Several rescue teams and experts had converged around the site and dug a deep hole had been dug up. A geologist team was scanning the area, but still no luck. Slowly I realize that no matter how sophisticated the equipment or how efficient a rescue dog’s sense of smell is, the amount of earth that has been piled atop this area is just way too much of a challenge for any of the experts or optimist to compete against.
Dusk was setting in and the Red Cross volunteers were recalled back to camp. We hitch a ride with a dump truck that was ferrying gravel. We needed to cross a river with a torrential current and got stuck in the middle. A US marine wades out and hitches us onto a tractor to pull us out of the current and we head back to base camp. Dinner was at the municipal gym which was taken over by the Red Cross as it base ops. I’ve had two bites from a protein bar all day and was feeling a wee bit hungry. Canned goods cut open with a spoon were passed around. After a long day in the heat and being on your feet all day long, a can Fiesta Ham (if that’s what it’s called) with rice is like a gourmet treat to cap off the day. It began to pour heavily in the late afternoon and everyone is drenched to the bone.
