HODR & Operation Smile

The last few weeks have certainly caught up with me. I am writing from my sick bed fighting an awful bug, and sniffling my way through a leaky nose. Thankfully, my body was able to hold out until after I got back to Manila from the Operation Smile medical mission in Cebu. Prior to that, I found myself on an overnight trip to Baguio (which thankfully turned into two nights). Then back to Manila for a couple of days before flying out to Legazpi City to join the Hands On Disaster Response (HODR) volunteers in Barangay San Isidro for a week. Then back to Manila for another couple of days before heading out to Cebu with Operation Smile.

Click on image above for HODR photos in Albay Province.

I always seemed to have a hard time waking up at 6:00AM in NYC, London, or HK, to don on a suit and pantyhose (yes! I did for those of you who did not know me during that lifetime!); but there was no escaping the crowing roosters bellowing away at 5:30AM daily in San Isidro. It was go, go, go! We were out the doors at by 8AM to either tarp or dig lahar. The treat at the end of the day was electricity from a generator set from 5PM to 10PM; a shower in either an outdoor shower or indoor shower; dinner at 6PM sharp prepared by San Isidro’s own Marisa; and, warm beer hurriedly chilled over ice till lights out. Then it was back to bed in sleeping bags over air mattresses tucked into mosquito nets. Just be sure to have your headlamps ready at your side in case you need to make a trip to the loo in the middle of night.

On my first morning in San Isidro, I thought I’d take it easy on my back and lay out tarps on roof tops. I quickly became bored with tarping and went to dig out lahar from the corner of a house instead. When I arrived at the house the first afternoon, I told Tim that something was decomposing underneath that pile of lahar and debris. Two days later, I came upon what looked like a femur. A few minutes later Tim discovered a vertebrae and then what looked like a scapula. All looked too small to be human, and we all hoped it wasn’t human. Soon enough Tim, perched above the buried kitchen, discovers some ribs which turned out to be from a decomposing dog.

There were 20 volunteers when I left San Isidro – all were foreigners who flew out to join HODR when word got to them of the group’s project in San Isidro. They came from all walks of life: a bartender from south London, an ex-corporate banker from London, an Irish electronics engineer who used to work in Silicon Valley, a retired Scotsman who used to work in shipping, a caterer from Seattle, a freelance writer from Brooklyn, a pair of engineering consultants from New Zealand, an investment management executive who quit his job with one of the top investment management firms in NYC to help out the residents of San Isidro. A number of them had joined HODR in their other projects in Biloxi, Mississippi (Hurricane Katrina), Thailand (2004 tsunami ), and Indonesia (Yogjakarta earthquake). By the time the daily evening meeting came to a close on my last night, nearly half of the them had indicated that they were willing to stay until the project ends on April 1st.

Unfortunately I had to leave and return to Manila and then to Cebu for Operation Smile. This is an amazing operation that has been in existence for the past 25 years. Also notable is that Op Smile’s first ever mission was conducted here in the Philippines, in Naga City 25 years ago. Every year an international mission sets out to perform hundreds of surgeries on underprivileged children with cleft lips and cleft palates all over the world. This year’s international mission was held simultaneously in Bacolod, Cebu and Davao with a team of foreign and local surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and pediatricians.

I was amazed at the energy of the international crew who, despite jet lag, managed to plow through hundreds of screenings on the first day, and through an average of 45 surgeries per day. Even more amazing was seeing how the parents reacted after their child was operated on and their cleft lips/palates are repaired. As someone said in Cebu, they thought they’d do these missions for 5 years tops. However, as each year comes along more and more children seem to seep out of from hiding and head out seeking help and hope from Operation Smile’s medical teams.

It has certainly been an interesting month. The only problem is that whatever weight I lost while digging out lahar in San Isidro was quickly replaced by “crispy pata”, “lechon” and whatever else sweet native delights the MSY Foundation pulled out of their magic Cebuano hats.

Related Links

Typhoon Reming (Durian) – The Aftermath

Flipland – Typhoons

Flipland – Relief Operations

Typhoon Reming (Durian) – The Aftermath

Click on the image above to view more photos.

It’s been two weeks since typhoon Durian crashed through the central part of the Philippines severely damaging the provinces of Albay, Camarines Sur, Marinduque and Catanduanes on November 30. The province of Albay was hit with the highest casualty/missing list, as hundreds of tons of lahar and volcanic debris were swept down from the slopes of Mayon volcano and buried entire villages in its path. Bamboo and thatched roof homes, as well as adobe and concrete structures were no match for Durian’s winds of up to 230kph which blew through the area for nearly a whole day (as compared to typhoon Milenyo’s two hours onslaught in Manila), and its 466 millimetres of rainfall. Communication links to most of the area has been severely incapacitated. Legazpi City, Albay and its immediate surrounding areas have been able to get mobile networks running while the others are still very spotty at best. It’ll be a dark holiday season as utilities attempt to repair fallen power and telephone lines. Hundreds are homeless: over 330,000 people in Camarines Sur alone; other sources are quoting nearly 1.54 miliion people have been affected – mostly in the Bicol region.

In Albay province, provincial authorities are focusing on taking care of those who survived the onslaught. Casualty/missing count may reach the thousand mark – with many remaining unidentified or missing as hundreds have been swept away by floods or buried under several feet of lahar. UNICEF, Red Cross, international donors have stepped in to help with relief efforts.

However, much more needs to be done for the long term as relief transitions into rehabilitation/reconstruction. Over 2000 schools have been damaged and their books/learning materials destroyed. Affected individiuals who survived just barely made it with the clothes on their backs, but their source of income (farming) have been buried under mud and volcanic debris or just simply blown away.We are nearing the end of the Philippines’ typhoon season. While in Albay last week, people prayed that not another typhoon would hit. Two days ago typhoon Utor came through and thankfully it was nowhere near as ferocious at Durian. It headed south of the Bicol region, it managed to cancel the ASEAN summit, and it managed to cause damage to the tourist island of Boracay. Being one of the prime tourist attraction for the country, Boracay is well stocked with generators and people motivated to clean up to gear up for holiday makers. Not so the case with Bicol and the areas hit by Durian.

After the storm

Some positive things about Typhoon Milenyo: 1) it unleashed its winds and fury for no more than two hours before heading out to the South China Sea; 2) it cleared out the air over Metro Manila of that nasty brown cloud called pollution; and, 3) it got rid of those distractingly dangerous billboards along EDSA more effectively than MMDA’s Bayani Fernando’s efforts. Here’s a photo of the air at the Fort at about 3PM this afternoon. It’s taken with my crummy phone camera and it’s the best of the lot as no distracting particles are hanging in the air to distort the image.

The clean-up is still ongoing. Metro Manila, with some parts on still on its 4th day of blackout, was shocked at the severity of the storm. Normally placid areas were subjected to howling winds which increased pressure inside high-rise apartment buildings. Makati’s tree lined avenues and leaf strewn residential subdivisions ended up sounding like an illegal logger’s camp at the end of the storm. Hotels in the city were fully booked over the weekend as those without generator sets sought refuge in Manila’s air-conditioned hotels. Those who stayed put in their homes in Forbes or Dasmarinas could be found at the Polo Club Lounge having their meals, getting online, recahrging their phones and laptops, and showering in the locker rooms.

Bicol, Sorsogon, Samar Provinces… I can only imagine the devastation it is facing today. In my previous post I noted that I was trying to outrun Milenyo through Northern Samar’s remote mountain top villages. I wonder if they are still there….

Video links of typhoon Milenyo and its aftermath in Makati can be found here typhoon, MPC, Dasma – as well as on the sidebar menu on the left. Typhoon photos are here.

Related Links

Flipland – Typhoons

Flipland – Relief Operations

Milenyo hits Manila

Click on image above for more photos.

For the last two days, typhoon Milenyo (international codename:Xangsane) had been at my heels. Fortunately for me , I misread my itinerary for the Northern Samar leg of an assignment. I was supposed to have stayed in Catarman, North Samar on Monday night. But, having misread the the itineraray details, I insisted on being taken an hour and half’s drive to Calbayog City. The rain started to pour Monday night in Calbayog. By the time my tricycle driver go me to Calbayog airport on Tuesday morning, it was too late. A piece of paper, scotched tape to the shuttered doors of the departure area simply read: “All flights cancelled due to bad weather.”

I puttered my way via tricycle back to the hotel in Calbayog. Afer being convinced that I was being ripped off for tricycle fare, I had to hire the same guy to take me to the “bus” terminal to try and catch some sort of transport to Tacloban City – four and a half hours away. It was the best bet having a slightly “bigger” airport with Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines flying out of it.

I ended up on the first bus that arrived the Linda’s terminal in Calbayog. The tricycle driver noted it wasn’t air-conditioned. Then I had to think about it: 4 1/2 hours sitting in air-condontioning rivaling arctic temperatures, with no toilets on the way, and with recycled air from at least 3 dozen strangers from who knows where and what type of germs. Heck, I boarded the al fresco bus — along with two roosters and a lechon! (At least we wouldn’t go hungry if we got stuck.) The roosters announced each and every stop, and I, in my nylon-like hiking pants kept sliding off the plastic covered seats at each turn and at every bump. My orange windbreaker was the only shield I had against the rain being driven in by the sheer lunatic speed of the bus as it wound its way through narrow mountain passes and dirt roads. We went through some remote areas and I realised that when my Smart mobile phone lost its signal.

By the time I got to Tacloban, I was convinced I had “Rip Me Off!” stamped on my forehead. The first tricycle driver would not tell me the fare to downtown Tacloban unless I got into his side car. The second one just flat out asked me for Php50.00. That about US$ 1.00, but knowing that I was only about a kilometer away from town and that fares in the city were Php5.00 only, there was something wrong. I finally called Roy, who ferried me to Guiuan from Tacloban the previous week, to get the lowdown. Turns out it was no more than Php15.00 and I was shortly on my way to the Hotel Alejandro where I had stayed the previous week. With my backpack securely on my back and my camera bag slung on a shoulder, I walked into the pre-war structure only to walk out in five minutes as there were no more rooms available. I was now in search of  a pension house that the desk clerk said was just around the corner. They had one room left, and I snapped it up immediately and requested for a wake up call at 5:30 AM the next day to catch my flight back.

I woke up the next morning and called Philippine Airlines to check if their 5:45 AM flight was boarding and not cancelled. The gate was just opening for check-in the 24-hour line tells me. Huh? How could that be? It was only 4:45AM and an eager intern at the front desk woke me up an hour early. Oh well, no reason now to miss my flight. And, I finally made it back to Manila.

By Wednesday night, I was told that the next leg of the trip would be re-scheduled on account of the typhoon. I was supposed to go to Daet. I had just managed to escape typhoon Milenyo (codename Xangsane) through the Samar and Leyte provinces, and now I was being scheduled to head straight towards it from Manila. It was with great relief that I welcomed the news that this leg of the trip was to be re-scheduled. I was to stay in Manila and I did.

I headed out this afternoon into the streets of Salcedo Village to experience the wrath of typhoon Milenyo — probably the strongest typhoon to hit the city since nearly a dozen years ago. I had my rain gear on, and battled with the wind as I tried to operate a video  camera and a 35mm still camera in driving rain and whipping winds. Trees were down everywhere! My $40.00 Goret-tex Timberland knock-offs from Kathmandu were flooded, and I was sloshing through rain water. I can safely say that this is the strongest storm I have ever experienced. It wasn’t so much the rain, but the wind. There was no way to beat back the 160KPH gusts that tore through this town.

Click here for a video of typhoon Milenyo

Infanta Flash Floods (2004)

Click on the image above for photos.

On 29 November 2004, flash floods swept through Infanta, Real and General Nakar in Quezon Province. Residents talk about how cold, turbulent waters swelled to heights of 15-20 feet and swept through their barangays in a span of three hours. Rice fields, homes and everything in its path were destroyed by the mud and logs that accompanied the flood. With the only road leading into the area blocked by landslides, Infanta was isolated for nearly a week. With no electricity, communications, drinking water, or food Infanta residents had to rely on relief to be brought in by air, weather permitting. Access by sea was dangerous at best. Inclement weather made for big waves and the coastline was blocked by tons of logs that ended their journey along the coastline.

“Kung walang mga troso, ‘di ganoon kalaki ang tubig.” (If there were no logs, the flood would not have been that big). This was a common sentiment amongst the people of Infanta. Survivors tell a common tale of having to completely disrobe so as not to be weighed down and drowned by their mud-laden clothes; of crawling their way to rooftops or tree branches atop dangerously floating logs; of punching holes through ceilings to escape rising flood waters; of swimming in turbulent waters as torpedo-like logs battered them; and, of waiting for daybreak atop whatever safety they could find only to find their homes completely washed out or buried in mud.

Thousands became homeless. Schools were not re-opened until mid-January as they had to be dug out of mud and cleared of debris. Most of Infanta’s residents were left with no means to generate income. The majority of agricultural land and irrigation canals remain buried in mud rendering them useless. Desiltation is ongoing and is emptying out in the estuaries destroying marine life and fishing areas. Housing is a problem and most of those affected are uncertain of what prospects they have for relocation or for housing materials.

As the the first quarter of 2005 draws to an end, the biggest challenge facing relief organizations, government and NGOs is how to maintain the momentum for giving as the relief phase shifts into rehabilation and recovery. Food security is the biggest problem as the residents of Infanta have had their entire livelihoods washed out by the flood.