POPE-PHILIPPINES/TACLOBAN SURVIVORS PREVIEW Philippines typhoon survivors hope for boost from Pope
Record ID:
565739
POPE-PHILIPPINES/TACLOBAN SURVIVORS PREVIEW Philippines typhoon survivors hope for boost from Pope
- Title: POPE-PHILIPPINES/TACLOBAN SURVIVORS PREVIEW Philippines typhoon survivors hope for boost from Pope
- Date: 15th January 2015
- Summary: TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES (JANUARY 14, 2015) (REUTERS) POPE FRANCIS WELCOME BANNER HANGING FROM BOW OF SHIP WASHED ASHORE SHIP WITH BANNER WASHED ASHORE WITH ONLY BOW SECTION REMAINING BESIDE ROAD REBUILT HOMES AMID HAIYAN WRECKAGE SIGN HANGING FROM WINDOW READING (English) "TO POPE FRANCIS: PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL BLESS THE FILIPINO WHO HAS NO FOOD TO EAT, SHELTER TO LIVE ON AND CONTINUE TO BLESS MY FAMILY WITH GOOD HEALTH AND FOOD IN OUR TABLE." POPE FRANCIS WELCOME BANNER HANGING FROM REBUILT HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) 65-YEAR-OLD RETIREE AND HAIYAN SURVIVOR, RAFAEL RAYO, SAYING: "His presence will help us very much. Our lives will be a bit better even if we only get a glimpse of him." VARIOUS OF SHIP WASHED ASHORE REBUILT HOMES ON COASTLINE PALO, LEYTE PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES (JANUARY 14, 2015) (REUTERS) MASS GRAVE FOR HAIYAN VICTIMS MAKESHIFT CROSSES EMBLAZONED WITH NAMES PHOTOS OF MISSING FAMILY MEMBERS TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES (JANUARY 15, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CLOTHING VENDOR AND HAIYAN SURVIVOR, NIMFA DELDA DACALOS, TALKING WITH INTERVIEWER (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) CLOTHING VENDOR AND HAIYAN SURVIVOR, NIMFA DELDA DACALOS, SAYING: "As time goes on, you can't help but yearn even more for those who are gone." PALO, LEYTE PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES (JANUARY 14, 2015) (REUTERS) CANDLES AT MAKESHIFT GRAVE WOMAN LOOKING AT MASS GRAVE WOMAN PRAYING WITH CROSS IN BACKGROUND TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES (JANUARY 15, 2015) (REUTERS) INFORMATION AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF PALO, FATHER CHRIS MILITANTE, TALKING WITH JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) INFORMATION AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF PALO, FATHER CHRIS MILITANTE, SAYING: "We need not worry because there is a place prepared for us wherein there are no more calamities, a place where there is no more hardship, no more poverty, no more war. That is the Kingdom of Heaven. That is why I believe the thing that sustains us, that sustains our people - that, in spite of the calamities, we are still hopeful that the hand of the Lord is guiding us towards that." PALO, LEYTE PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES (JANUARY 14, 2015) (REUTERS) MEN CLEANING MEMORIAL MONUMENT DEDICATED TO HAIYAN VICTIMS MAN WIPING MONUMENT SURFACE CLEAN NAMES ON MONUMENT
- Embargoed: 30th January 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA6I7B37CA0I13SO3SFQ30HDM29
- Story Text: Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan are hoping for a morale boost from their despair as they await Pope Francis' arrival in the Philippines on Thursday (January 15).
Francis will travel on Saturday (January 17) to the central province of Leyte, which is still struggling to recover from the disaster. The typhoon killed 6,300 people in 2013.
About two million people are expected to attend an open-air mass on Saturday at Tacloban City airport, almost completely destroyed by Haiyan.
Survivors who remain homeless are hoping that the Pontiff's concern for poverty and the environment can also draw attention to their plight.
Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall, tore through the central Philippines with six-metre (19-feet) storm surges and winds up to 315 kph (195 mph), destroying over a million homes.
The international community donated more than $380 million in aid and provided assistance for relief and recovery, but despite the outpouring of support, an estimated 4.1 million people in Tacloban City and other coastal areas are still homeless and left to fend for themselves more than a year after the storm.
Among these hardened survivors is Rafael Rayo, a 65-year-old retiree who enjoined his neighbours to draw large "Welcome Pope" banners and drawings placed around Tacloban's Anibong village.
Rayo, who believes that art and creativity are effective coping mechanisms for the storm survivors, said that he and his fellow survivors are excited about the Pope's visit.
"His presence will help us very much. Our lives will be a bit better even if we only get a glimpse of him," Rayo said.
Villager Nimfa Delda Dacalos, from Rawis in Tacloban, lost 25 members of her family in a storm surge that swallowed her house entirely.
Dacalos, who is now working as a clothing vendor to make ends meet, said she never stopped asking God why she was spared when almost all of Tacloban was destroyed and her family lost so many, including most of her siblings and a one-year-old granddaughter.
"As time goes on, you can't help but yearn even more for those who are gone," Dacalos lamented.
Dacalos said that she is prepared to trek for miles very early on January 17 to try to attend the Pope's mass at the airport. She said she realises that a papal encounter will not miraculously change her situation, and ultimately, they will have to take the steps to recovery on their own.
Father Chris Militante serves in the town of Palo, one of the areas worst-hit by Haiyan.
"We need not worry because there is a place prepared for us wherein there are no more calamities, a place where there is no more hardship, no more poverty, no more war. That is the Kingdom of Heaven. That is why I believe the thing that sustains us, that sustains our people - that, in spite of the calamities - we are still hopeful that the hand of the Lord is guiding us towards that," Militante said.
The Pope will bring a message of compassion to millions of poor Filipinos suffering from the effects of corruption, decades-old insurgencies and climate change, as well as the problems faced by the families of the nearly 12 million Filipino migrant workers overseas. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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