POPE-PHILIPPINES/TACLOBAN MASS RAIN Rain-soaked pope braves storm to comfort typhoon victims

Record ID: 565756

  • Title: POPE-PHILIPPINES/TACLOBAN MASS RAIN Rain-soaked pope braves storm to comfort typhoon victims
  • Date: 17th January 2015
  • Summary: TACLOBAN CITY, PHILIPPINES (JANUARY 17, 2015) (REUTERS) RAIN-SOAKED MASS VENUE POPE FRANCIS WEARING YELLOW RAINCOAT AT ALTAR STATUE OF THE MADONNA IN DRIVING RAIN VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WEARING RAINCOATS STANDING IN POURING RAIN PEOPLE AT MASS
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEKHGMCEH01BTPEJVZEKF0WQHX
  • Story Text: An emotional Pope Francis travelled to Tacloban City on Saturday (January 17), to comfort the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines' worst ever natural disaster.
    Thousands of worshippers, many with tears in their eyes, stood amid puddles in a mud-soaked field as the pope comforted them during a morning Mass.
    Also wearing a yellow raincoat over his white garments, the pope addressed the crowd in his native Spanish, instead of reading a previously arranged English speech.
    He told them that he had vowed to make the trip in November 2013 when he saw reports of the devastation Haiyan had caused.
    Nearly 3,000 victims are buried in the city's almost half-hectare mass grave site.
    Hundreds are still unaccounted for.
    He asked the crowd to hold a moment of silence and thanked those who helped in the rescue effort after the worst recorded storm ever to make landfall.
    The papal Mass was accelerated and the remainder of the programme - a visit to a nearby cathedral, lunch with survivors and the blessing of a new centre for the poor - was compacted so he could leave four hours early because of worsening weather conditions.
    Vatican officials said that the pontiff needed to leave Tacloban by 1300 local time to fly to the capital Manila, before the storm worsened, or risk being stranded in the town.
    Saturday's storm was an eerie reminder of Haiyan, which hit the same area with 250 kph (155 mph) winds and created a seven-metre high storm surge, wiping out almost everything in its path when it swept ashore on November 8, 2013.
    Haiyan destroyed about 90 percent of Tacloban city, 650 km. (400 miles) southeast of Manila. More than 14.5 million people were affected in six regions and 44 provinces.
    Minutes after the Pope's plane left for Manila, a jet carrying 11 people, including Philippine Cabinet members, overshot the runway at Tacloban because of the storm. No one was hurt but authorities closed the airport.
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