Therapy and toys greet Yolanda survivors at Villamor Airbase

Toys, packed lunches and warm greetings welcomed more than one thousand survivors of Typhoon Yolanda's wrath as they arrived at Villamor Air Base in Parañaque/Pasay on Saturday.

Upon arrival, the survivors also underwent medical treatment as well as stress and emotional debriefing, according to Marisol Abdurahman's report on GMA News' 24 Oras.



These included children who lived through the destruction of their hometowns, and saw bodies lying in the streets, it added.

One of the children, an eight-year-old boy, chose to cope with the experience through art, drawing pictures of the storm as a nun watched over him.

Most of the children, though, could not stop talking about their traumatizing experience, said Imee Ona, senior adviser of Philippine Air Force's Officers Ladies Club.

"They keep on telling stories of what happened. I can feel that they want to release it from their system," she said.

According to the report, child volunteers were also there to greet the kids with toys, hoping to help ease their pain and trauma.

As of Friday, over 2,500 survivors have arrived in Metro Manila to allow them temporary reprieve from the chaos and desperation hounding the affected areas.

US Embassy charge d' affairs Brian Goldbeck on Friday said their C-130 cargo aircraft had carried from Tacloban City carrying 2,773 Filipinos, 109 Americans and 86 other foreign nationals.

The survivors will for the meantime stay at the Villamor Airbase until they are claimed by relatives, according to Air Force spokesperson Col. Miguel Okol.

Those without relatives will be assisted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Okol added. — Amanda Fernandez/BM, GMA News