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| A boy runs through the smoke of a cooking fire in the Typhoon Haiyan destroyed town of Guiuan, Philippines on Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record, hit the country's eastern seaboard Nov. 8, leaving a wide swath of destruction. |
GUIUAN,
Philippines (AP) -- People swept dirt from the pews and wiped clean
the mud-covered, ornate tile floors of a church. The sound of hammers
hitting nails and the buzzing of chain saws reverberated in the streets.
Debris was piled on corners and set ablaze.
And
amid all this activity, a stream of bodies continued their final
journey toward a hillside mass grave where nearly 170 had been buried by
Friday afternoon.
One week after Typhoon
Haiyan razed the eastern part of the Philippines, killing thousands and
leaving at least 600,000 homeless, resilient residents of the disaster
zone were rebuilding their lives and those of their neighbors.
An
international aid effort gathered steam, highlighted by the helicopter
drops conducted from the American aircraft carrier USS George
Washington. But the storm victims moved ahead - with or without help
from their government or foreign aid groups.
Peter
Degrido, a coast guard reserve, was one of the 35 workers trying to
move an overturned passenger bus from a road leading to the airport in
Guiuan (GEE-won), a town on Samar island. They hitched the bus to a
truck with steel cables and made slow progress. Ahead of them lay many
downed electricity poles that must be moved next.
"We're
clearing debris from the roads leading to the airport and the port so
that relief goods and medicine can arrive faster," Degrido said. "It's
devastating to see this. But people are slowly recovering."
The
Philippines' main disaster response agency raised the death toll Friday
to 3,621, up from the previous figure of 2,360. Most of the casualties
occurred on Leyte and Samar islands. It said 1,140 people are missing
and more than 12,000 injured.
At 6 a.m.,
Dionesio de la Cruz was hammering together a bed, using scavenged rusty
nails. He has already built a temporary shelter out of the remains of
his house in Guiuan, about 155 kilometers (100 miles) from Leyte's
devastated capital of Tacloban.
The side of the new house is open. A statue of Jesus stands on a table. On the ground is a broken mirror.
"Temporary,"
he shrugs, referring to the house and their status. "We're on our own,
so we have to do this on our own," the 40-year-old said as his wife and
mother slept on a nearby table. "We're not expecting anybody to come and
help us."
Elsewhere in town, one man was
selling skewers of meat, and a couple of kiosks were selling soda and
soap. Everywhere, freshly washed clothes lay drying in sun.
Guiuan
was one of the first towns hit by the typhoon. It suffered massive
damage, but casualty figures were lower than in Tacloban and elsewhere
because it was largely spared from storm surges.
While many have left the disaster zone, some chose to stay and help.
Susan
Tan, a grocery store owner in Guiuan, was all set to fly elsewhere in
the country after hungry townsfolk swarmed her business a few days after
the storm, stripping the shelves of everything of value.
But
a friend persuaded her to stay, and she is now running a relief center
from her shop, which has been in the family since the 1940s.
"I
can't just go to Cebu and sit in the mall while this place is in
ruins," she said. "Although I've been looted and made bankrupt by this, I
cannot refuse my friends and my town. We need to help each other."
Tan
managed to get her hands on a satellite phone from a friend who works
for a local cellphone provider. Hundreds lined up in the sun to use it
to call relatives and let them know they are safe. One minute per caller
is the rule.
On Thursday, she welcomed her
first aid shipment. It's a fraction of what is needed, but it's a start:
20 boxes containing dried noodles, canned goods, sardines, medicine and
bottled water.
In signs that relief efforts
were picking up, U.S. Navy helicopters flew sorties from the USS George
Washington off the coast, dropping water and food to isolated
communities. The U.S. military said it will send about 1,000 more troops
along with additional ships and aircraft to join the aid effort.
So far, the U.S. military has moved 174,000 kilograms (190 tons) of supplies and flown nearly 200 sorties.
"Having
the U.S. military here is a game-changer," said Col. Miguel Okol, a
spokesman for the Philippine air force. "For countries that we don't
have these kinds of relationships with, it can take a while to get help.
But with the U.S., it's immediate."
In one
neighborhood of Tacloban, dozens of people crowded around a mobile
generator, where countless cords snaked across the dirt and into power
strips. Residents plugged in mobile phones, tablets and flashlights,
hoping for a precious gulp of electricity, even though cell coverage
remained spotty.
John Bumanig and his wife
were cleaning out their secondhand clothes shop, which was swamped by
storm surges. They were laying out bras in the sun, though they weren't
hopeful anyone would buy them. Most of the stock had to be thrown out.
They were determined to stay in Tacloban, but faced an uncertain future.
"We
cannot do anything, but will find a way to overcome this," said his
wife, Luisa, holding back tears. "We have to strive hard because we
still have children to take care of."
