ON the fifth anniversary of super-typhoon Yolanda last Thursday, Malacañang presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said rehabilitation of the areas devastated by the typhoon should be completed in about two years. “Hopefully within the year, or two years. Depends on the situation,” he said.
Yolanda, known to the rest of the world as Haiyan, was one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record, the deadliest in the Philippines ever. When it hit the Visayas on November 8, 2013, its powerful winds were estimated at 280 kilometers per hour. It made its first landfall at Guiuan, Samar, then hit five other islands before it exited in the South China Sea.
Its winds were so powerful that the Philippine Atmospheric, Geological, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) issued storm warnings to 60 of the country’s 80 provinces. But the greatest devastation was caused by a storm surge – waves as high as six meters – that swept inland, destroying buildings and trees, piling cars up, drowning and sweeping away the bodies of thousands of people. A total of 6,329 were later confirmed dead, with 1,074 missing. Damage was placed at P95.5 billion.
At the start of the Duterte administration in June 2016, it was met with complaints about the slow pace of rehabilitation. Many of the homes built by government contractors were well below standards. Presidential spokesman Panelo said to this day, the government continues to have problems finding the right kind of land for the housing projects.
Last Thursday, former senator Jinggoy Estrada and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, who were in Tacloban, called for an investigation on the billions in government funds and contributions from around the world, that were supposed to aid the survivors of Yolanda. She said she believes there is still a significant amount being kept somewhere; these should be used to help the many survivors of Yolanda still waiting for help.
Spokesman Panelo said the Duterte administration had released at least R146 billion as of December 31, 2017, to assist the typhoon victims. He added that 100,609 of the 205,128 houses for the victims had been completed as of October 31, 2018.
We hope the government will be able to compete its task of rehabilitation in these next two years, as the Malacañang spokesman said. That would be seven years after Yolanda struck – such a long time, but the victims of that super-typhoon and the rest of the nation look forward to that day when we can finally put Yolanda behind us.
