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“Want to see dead bodies?” Day 25 Super Typhoon Yolanda

December 3, 2013 – 8:37 am
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

“Want to see dead bodies?”
I hear this question a lot as I walk around Tacloban. You’d think that nearly four weeks after the typhoon, we’d come to the end of the dead bodies, but you’d be wrong. There seems to be no end to them. As people remove debris and move back into the areas where they used to live, they keep uncovering more of …

Day Twenty-Three – Typhoon Yolanda

December 1, 2013 – 3:26 pm
A 92-year-old man survived typhoon Yolanda by climbing up the hill behind his house

It’s hard to believe that it has been 24 days since super typhoon Yolanda struck. The streets outside my pension house are still a mess, filled with debris and garbage. All the vehicles dumped there by the floodwaters are still there blocking the roads. I guess these streets are not a priority, as they don’t lead anywhere in particular or connect anything important.
I don’t think …

Day Nineteen – Super Typhoon Yolanda

November 30, 2013 – 2:35 pm
View of the eastern shoreline from a 3-story house

My NEO word processor ran out of memory, so I have not recorded anything on it for the last two or three days. I made notes in a notebook (my sprained finger won’t let me write even in my childish scrawl), and I’ll get to those notes in a minute. First, I’d like to talk about the experience of getting my journal downloaded from the …

Day Eighteen – Super Typhoon Yolanda

November 26, 2013 – 1:42 pm
Thousands of Filipinos gather to receive their pay from the Tzu Chi Foundation

Yesterday was a day of much interest. I was supposed to go with Dan to the Bohol bicycle shop, but Dan never showed up and never contacted me. I located the Bohol bicycle shop on my own and found it closed. I spoke with one of the owners, and he spoke with a mechanic, but they wouldn’t do anything for me. They were busy cleaning …

Day Eighteen – Super Typhoon Yolanda

November 25, 2013 – 12:49 pm
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A city without power can be a very quiet place. Last night, the silence was so complete and for so many hours that I imagined that I had gone deaf. I made some noise from time to time to ensure that my ears still worked.
At four a.m. this morning, the sole rooster left in this part of Tacloban began his totally unchallenged (and therefore rather …

Day Seventeen – Super Typhoon Yolanda

November 24, 2013 – 11:37 am
Two teenage girls help clear the rubble from their destroyed home

Yesterday was a day for public urination. No matter where I went, which street I went down, which corner I turned, I came across a man sending out a splendid stream of bright yellow liquid. That’s not uncommon, of course. There aren’t thousands of “Don’t Urinate Here” signs all over the Philippines for nothing. But yesterday was something special, like there was a urination festival …

Day Sixteen – Super Typhoon Yolanda

November 23, 2013 – 8:51 am
The CASDDA team cares for their dogs in a shady spot

After my morning of running errands yesterday (buying alcohol fuel for my stove and food), my plans were to go out with my camera. However, it continued to rain, and there wasn’t much point to it. I hung out at the pension house drinking coffee, reading, making something to eat, and trying desperately to endure the children. I eventually had to lay down some ground …

Days Fourteen & Fifteen – Super Typhoon Yolanda

November 22, 2013 – 1:03 pm
Destruction in the Magallanes District of Tacloban

Dan did manage to contact his friend the bicycle mechanic. This fellow works at the Bohol bicycle shop, and Dan arranged to be the very first customer on Monday morning when they plan to open their doors. He offered to go there with me and help me get my bike into the system to be worked on as soon as possible. The plan is to …