Please help San Juan (Cabalian) Southern Leyte

On 16 December 2021, a super typhoon called Rai (Odette in the Philippines), the super typhoon left devastation and more than 100 people have been reported killed in the Visayas and Mindanao. Typhoon Odette is the 15th and is considered the most powerful typhoon to hit the Philippines this year.

 

My beloved hometown San Juan (Cabalian) is a coastal town located in the province of Southern Leyte. Our province suffered massive devastation brought by the wrath of Typhoon Rai (Odette in the Philippines) coupled with a storm surge of about 5 meters high. Our town was one of the severely damaged locations in the Pacific area just like the neighbouring towns of Saint Bernard and Anahawan. According to the information gathered from relatives and friends who struggled to come to Tacloban (161 km away) just to get mobile phone reception, most coastal houses have been wiped out, leaving residents without food, water, clothing, and shelter. Our town does not have electricity and mobile phone reception. According to the local information, we are looking at 2-3 months for the energy and telecommunications company to fix all the damages and restore power and tower signals.

 

Today is the fourth day after Typhoon Odette made its landfall and wrecked our province. I waited anxiously and worriedly to hear from my parents and my two young kids until today. My family travelled 5 hours from my hometown to be able to contact us and buy supplies (rice, potable water, food and other necessities).

 

You might not be familiar with our location because only the provinces of Samar and Leyte are well-known across the country. San Juan is a remote location and the population is fairly dispersed compared to nearby major towns. It is unlikely there will be assistance beyond that provided by the government so we are keen to help get some resources into the hands of people who can really make a difference to the most vulnerable in the community.

 

We will provide updates as soon as we can but for now, we offer our sincere appreciation for all your help. We will make sure it reaches our fellow Cabalinons and hope we are able to bring joy to a lot of families this Christmas.

 

Daghang salamat kaninyong tanan.