The typhoon has yet to land on Aurora province but we’re now experiencing very strong wind that is now whistling. Come evening it would be howling.
After church service at noon, I went out to buy fresh veggies and fruits. Then I saw the street dogs. I went to 7-eleven and bought dog food packs to feed them. They will have a very rough night ahead of them.
I was thinking of driving around the campus to feed stray cats but the winds are getting more violent.
I have to decide now if I should go or not. While there is still little daylight.
It’s cold outside. I hope all the stray animals are ok. 🙁
We’ve also prepared old clothes for donation.
I remembered that it’s the 12th anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). The catastrophe that taught me how to read satellite images and gave me PTSD.
@kmjs Ngayong araw, ginugunita ang ika-12 na annibersayo ng pananalasa ng bagyong Yolanda sa Pilipinas. Libo-libong buhay ang nawala dahil sa trahedya. Panoorin ang buong ulat DITO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpaR3s7LMJo&t=488s
♬ original sound – Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho – Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho
I started publishing reports about Haiyan when it was just a Cat 3 typhoon in the Pacific. I didn’t sleep overnight when it made landfall as I kept publishing reports from the ground. I keep getting feeds from broadcast colleagues who were there before the typhoon landed.
I stationed myself at Villamor Airbase, reporting on the relief efforts and the evacuation of those who had nowhere to go. I was thinking of joining the other journalists who were allowed to fly in a C160 but feedback from colleagues made me think I wouldn’t be able to do much reporting because I won’t have a land vehicle.
I was the first one to report about the storm surge that hit Robinsons Tacloban as I was getting info from the ground while I was in Manila.
When I finally got my editor’s go signal, I drove from my mom’s house and left my babies with them. I drove for 13 hrs straight to reach Sorsogon. I dropped dead in an inn near the port. I was with my ex-husband and a friend who worked with a Japanese NGO, carrying a generator, relief goods, our own food and supplies. The next day we drove for another 12 hrs or so to stop in Catbalogan and proceeded to Tacloban and met some TV colleagues. For two weeks we drove around Samar-Leyte giving aid (with some local church-based charity org and my own network’s foundation), and searching for and writing stories.
I talked to first responders and the horrors—oh the horrors that greeted them when they crossed San Juanico bridge. Interview upon interviews, documentation upon documentation. Non-stop.
No wonder the stereotype of heavy drinking, chainsmoking journalists pervade public consciousness. It’s how we cope with traumas and extremely stressful situations. During those weeks on Ground Zero I wanted to chainsmoke and drink myself to death.
The stench of rotting humans and animals stayed with me for months and months. It wreaked havoc in my brain. I couldn’t write for six months.
I was so depressed but I didn’t know it at that time. Reporters Without Borders already warned journalists that we who went straight to disaster zones should be debriefed. There was an article about journalists who covered the Banda Aceh disaster/tsunami suffering from PTSD. I ignored it, thinking that I’m not going to be affected.
Wrong.
Such hubris.