Survivors of Basey, Samar await more relief goods

The coastal barangay of San Antonio in Basey, Samar was reduced to rubble after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) battered the area last Friday.

 

From the coast, heaps of debris can be seen littering the town. Out of the estimated thousand houses in the coastal town, less than 100 were left standing.  

 

At least 200 were confirmed dead from Basey alone, 50 of them from Brgy. San Antonio, a television report on GMA’s “24 Oras” aired Thursday evening said. The task of recovering bodies is far from done.

 

Relief goods have been coming to the town in a trickle.

  

On Thursday afternoon, trucks of relief goods from the local government and members of the International Red Cross arrived at the coastal town, the report said.

But six days after the super typhoon--the strongest recorded in the world so far this year--battered the Visayas, residents have only received a few kilos of rice, and a few canned goods.

 

As the people of Basey watch helicopters bring relief goods to the city of Tacloban just the San Juanico Strait, they wonder then they will receive as much aid.

 

The community needs at least a month's supply of relief before their lives can get get back to a semblance of normalcy, a resident said. Some residents were skeptical whether more relief goods will reach them at all.

 

In the report's “Panawagan” portion, residents of Basey asked their kin outside the province for help with food and clothing.

 

“Kung may pera ka sa bangko ay wala naman tayong ATM,” one resident commented.

 

In an interview with GMA News, residents showed mismatched slippers scavenged from what remains of their town. One resident said that they need toothbrushes because they have had to use their clothes to clean their teeth.

 

But even in the midst of the destruction, some residents expressed gratitude at being alive.

“Sa aking mga anak sa Antipolo, wag silang mag-alala kasi kahit kami’y nag-langoy, kasama ko ang aking mga apo na maliliit. Purihin ang Panginoon kasi binigyan kami ng lakas ng katawan,” an aging resident told GMA News. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/JDS, GMA News