POWER OF THE PEN DURING TYPHOON YOLANDA

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Where the power of the pen may have had a humanitarian impact
This year it will be 10 years since Typhoon Yolanda hit Tacloban City and surrounding areas in the province of Leyte in the southern Philippines.1000 s perish and so much destruction that I had never experienced before.

I was working as an ex-pat in Egypt when the Typhoon struck and I arrived back in the Philippines within two days.
I needed to get my wife and her family to a safe place, but others were suffering with no food or medical supplies. My residence was 40 km from Tacloban. The relief effort was highly concentrated in Tacloban but 1000’s of people lived in outlying areas. The American Military was doing a great job but in the early relief, all efforts were concentrated around Tacloban City.


I did not think it would have an effect but I sent a report to CNN Philippines, which had American reporters on the ground, including Anderson Cooper.

CNN PRODUCER NOTE    Australian resident Robby59, who now works in Egypt, faced a nerve-wracking few days after typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) trying to contact his wife and her family in a remote village in the central Philippines. Luckily, they were found safe and well. After travelling to the country, he and his wife reunited in the capital, Manila. They went to their village south of Tacloban to distribute aid and food to the family and pick up relatives and bring them to nearby Cebu City.
He sent in this report to draw people's awareness to the smaller villages just as severely hit by the typhoon. "I cannot save all, as that is impossible," he said, "but please some focus on outlying villages for food and supplies ... may we help the forgotten."
- sarahbrowngb, CNN iReport producer

My thoughts
I am not sure if my message got through but the following day, I could see numerous helicopters dropping food (rice) and other supplies to our village and surrounding areas. I still wonder to this day if my report had an effect!

The picture below is the view of the village I was living in. My
house entrance on the left (green colour) As you can see, the village suffered severe damage


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