DKH Article

Municipality of Basey, Western Samar, Philippines

The following is an account of two families from a village in Basey, Samar, Philippines. Basey was one of the Samar towns hardest hit by typhoon Haiyan being directly along its path.

The villagers of  Basey, Samar have been recipients of DKH relief goods through its local partners LCDe Leyte Center for Development and CDRC Citizens Disaster Relief Center.

Article 1   Basey  Family 1

Rima Navarosa used to work in Manila but chose to go home to Basey, Samar to deliver her baby while her husband decided to stay behind in Manila to continue working. When asked why, she explained that her parents would be there to help take care of her and the baby after she gives birth. Unfortunately she chose to come home just days before Typhoon Haiyan struck in November 8.

(1,2)Rima Navarosa is married to Ruel Navarosa, both are 24 years old and have a month old baby girl named Eunice who was born two days after the storm. Rima comes from Catadman, Basey while her husband Ruel is from Mindanao, Ruel is a factory worker in Manila and Rima is currently unemployed.

(3)Explaining in detail her experience during the storm, Rima said that the day before the storm (November 7, 2 p.m.) her family and other villagers decided to head for a nearby mountain which had a rather large cave which could accommodate them all. Along with her cousins and more than twenty family members which included children, they endured a two hour trek up the mountain slope, and considering the fact that she was pregnant, this was quite a feat in itself. They brought with them provisions which included rice, sardines and some blankets.

During the storm they could hear the roar of the wind from outside the cave, they were a little scared but were quite confident of the safety their shelter offered as the cave sat on a high vantage point. (4)They stayed in the cave for one day until they were sure it was safe to go out and when they finally emerged the destruction was total, their village was completely destroyed and nothing was left of Rimas’ house except for a few scattered belongings barely of any use. (5)Luckily Rima lost no family members or anyone she knows as most of them were ready for the storm.

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(6) Days after Rima also appreciates the relief goods that DKH gave to their community. She compares the items a much more compared to that given by the local government and other private organizations. “the rice from DKH is 10 kilos per family, while that of the government and other organizations is only 2 kilos for each house. And the food items from DKH are more like there is dried fish, while the government did not give any. I also like the mat, blanket and plastic sheets from DKH which were very useful and which the government did not give.”

After the storm Rima and her family relied heavily on relief goods which came almost everyday but as the weeks dragged on, delivery was reduced to once a week. Since all of their crops have been damaged, they are insecure about the future.

(7)Rimas’ family relied chiefly on farming crops, most especially rice, which they would sell, but would keep most of their harvest for their own consumption. Now after the storm, returning to their old livelihood will be very difficult as all their crops were destroyed. Her family still plans on continuing farming and are hopeful about the future.   Like most typhoon victims, Rima’s family are poor peasants whose main source of livelihood is farming.

(8)Christmas means being together with her family. It also means celebrating life and hoping for the best in the coming year.

(9)They used to prepare small celebrations before, now this won’t be possible anymore but Rima says its okay as long as no one was killed in her family compared to the hundreds who lost so many loved ones. Rima further states that” most important of all, I managed to keep my baby. Throughout the typhoon, my one reason for striving to survive was the baby inside me. I would have gladly sacrificed my own life if it meant saving my baby.”

(10)Rimas’ wishes are simple, foremost for her house to be fixed, that no storm like Haiyan to ever strike again, among these were her wish for some semblance of order to be restored as there were reports of roaming groups of armed bandits robbing people in their very homes, finally she wishes that the local government makes good on their promise to help those without money to  rebuild their houses and help them with their livelihood.

(11) based on LCDe’s damage, needs, capacity assessment, most typhoon victims express the need for livelihood support aside from shelter assistance. Livelihood support is mainly agriculture inputs like rice/vegetable seeds, farm tools, work animals, fishing boats ( poor fisherfolk fishing boats were destroyed).

Even before typhoon Haiyan, they were living on less than U.S.$ 400.00 a year or Php Philippine Pesos 16,000.00 annually. A large majority of the typhoon victims live below the poverty line, meaning they do not have food security, health care, decent housing, limited education opportunities.


Article 2      Basey   Family 2

We found Maricar along with her husband and three children in their ruined house filled with an assortment of Christmas décor and of all things, a pristine Christmas tree.

(1,2)Maricar Astorga Ucier, is a 57 year old poor vendor married to Nestor Ucier, a 49 year old farmer and fisherman. Their eldest daughter Edmari Ucier is age 16 and is on her third year of high-school, Jerwin Ucier who is 12 years old is on his 6^th grade in elementary while the youngest Edward Ucier, 10 years old, is on his 5^th grade in elementary.  

(3)Maricar and her family reside in a coastal community of Basey, Samar with the beach in plain sight, so early in the morning of November 8, just hours before the storm, they sent their three children to evacuate into a mountain along with a number of villagers from their community. Both Maricar and her husband Nestor decided to stay behind and took shelter in their neighbors’ house which was made out of concrete and was two floors high and were quite confident that it could weather the storm. Unfortunately it didn’t. What the wind couldn’t destroy the water made sure it was, and as the storm surge grew into enormous proportions (as high as 30feet), the house was obliterated. Maricar almost drowned if not for her husband Nestor who saved her and swam all the way to a nearby mountain, despite debris crashing into them. By the time they reached the mountain they were covered in wounds and had barely any clothes on, for three days they subsisted on coconuts before deciding to make their way down.

(4)When they finally got down the mountain, a sight nightmares were made of greeted them as their whole community was leveled, Maricar mentioned she  did not recognize their village as almost nothing was left standing. (5)Fortunately none of their family members or anyone they know died.

Maricar and her family were very thankful for the quick and efficient delivery of relief goods.

(6)  on DKH support:  Maricar and her family are thankful of the DKH food and non-food items. Like many DKH relief aid beneficiaries, Maricar says that ,” the relief goods given by DKH are complete and more satisfying compared to that from the government or other groups. It provided us rice and other food at this time when we could not get any.”

(7)Before the storm Maricar was primarily a vendor while Nestor was a fisherman and farmer. Presently they have absolutely no source of income and are heavily dependent on relief goods. Their plans for the future are to go back their old livelihoods. But they confirm that they would need a lot of external help to get back on their feet again. This would mean livelihood support and shelter assistance.

(8)Christmas for Maricar and her family simply means to be blessed that none of them were killed in the storm  and that they can celebrate the occasion as a complete family.

(9)For Christmas they will be eating the half a dozen cans of corned beef they saved from the various relief missions, which probably will be the only form of celebration they will be doing.

(10)  Maricar is expecting the government and other organizations like LCDe to assist them in getting their livelihood back. Since all their food crops and cash crops (coconut) has been damaged, they are also insecure about the future and how she will feed her children.

(11)When asked about the Christmas decors in their house, Maricar pointed to the kids and explained it was them who took the effort to scrounge for the various trinkets and decors in their house, which came from their other neighbor who threw it out, finding it a pointless task of decorating as Christmas has lost meaning to them, but for Maricar and her family the spirit of Christmas is alive and well.

This article was also submitted to DKH. Visit their site at: Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe