Tacloban, Philippines, destroyed twice before by storms

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Home destroyed by Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, Tacloban City, Philippines

Philippine historian Ambeth R. Ocampo had a very interesting story in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer yesterday, 20 November. Tacloban was destroyed twice before by violent storms, in 1897 and in 1912.

Mr Ocampo quotes from an Australian newspaper, Barrier Mariner, 12 January 1898 [emphasis added]:

TYPHOON AND TIDAL WAVE IN THE PHILIPPINES. 7,000 Lives Lost. Mail advices, brought by the steamer Gaelic from Chinese and other ports in the Far East, contain details of the fearful destruction wrought in the Philippine Islands by the typhoon and tidal wave during October [1897]. It is estimated that 400 Europeans and 6,000 natives lost their lives, many being drowned by the rush of water, while others were killed by the violence of the wind. Several towns have been swept or blown away. The hurricane first struck the Bay of Santa Paula, and devastated the district lying to the south of it. No communication with the neighborhood was possible for two days. The hurricane reached Leyte on Oct. 12, striking Tacloban, the capital, with terrific force, and reduced it to ruins in less than half an hour. The bodies of 126 Europeans have been recovered from the fallen buildings. Four hundred natives were buried in the ruins. 

Tacloban City, 14 November 2013

The Washington Herald of 20 November 1912 reports: 

15,000 DIE IN PHILIPPINE STORM. That 15,000 persons were probably killed and wounded in a typhoon that swept the Philippine Islands last Tuesday was reported yesterday in cable dispatches to the Bureau of Insular Affairs.

The typhoon swept the Visayas and is said to have practically destroyed Tacloban, the capital of Leyte, and to have wrought enormous damage and loss of life at Capiz, the capital of the province of Capiz. Tacloban has a population of 12,000. Capiz has a population of over 20,000. Capiz is the terminal of the railroad from Iloilo. It is a most important sugar port.

The first news of the catastrophe came in a dispatch of the governor general of the Philippines. No figures of the dead or injured were given, but it was stated that probably half the population of the two cities had been lost. The governor general sent his dispatch on Thursday. He informed the department that he was rushing a shipload of food, clothing and all available medical supplies to Tacloban. All telegraphic communication has been destroyed, and it is impossible to get other than vague reports of the extent of the disaster. That Tacloban has suffered an enormous loss of life is believed to be certain. Following the receipt of the dispatch announcing the heavy casualties in the Visayas, the Red Cross prepared to rush a relief fund to the governor general. The Washington office has cabled the insular government asking how great is their need.

The town of Capiz referred to is now Roxas City. It now has a population of more than 156,000 while before Haiyan/Yolanda Tacloban City had a population of around 220,000. During the 1912 typhoon they had around 20,000 and 12,000 respectively. This suggests that relative to the population the typhoon 101 years ago was more devastating than Haiyan/Yolanda was. But the reports also imply that twice before Tacloban and other towns rose from post-typhoon ruin.

One of the ironies of Haiyan/Yolanda is that just as in 1912 All telegraphic communication has been destroyed and yet the world's media were able to show us live what was happening in Tacloban City and elsewhere this time.

Mr Ocampo ends his column with this statement: All of the above suggest we do not learn from history.

His statement also suggests to me that while we have to try to analyze climatic events and calamities to see if climate change and global warming are a major factor in storms such as Haiyan/Yolanda and to ask if we humans are responsible for this, we also have to ask other questions.

Haiyan/Yolanda approaching the Philippines, 7 November 2013.

Photos from Wikipedia page on Typhoon Haiyan.

The resilience of the faith of Filipinos



We are still in the Christmas Season until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, observed on Sunday in countries that celebrate the Epiphany as a holyday of obligation on 6 January. In countries that celebrate the Epiphany on Sunday the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord will be observed on Monday 9 January.

Katolikongpinoy posted the old English song, The Coventry Carol, as a tribute to those who died in Tropical Storm Sendong/Washi a week before Christmas, especially in Iligan City and in Cagayan de Oro City, both in northern Mindanao, .

Last night I received a text from a friend whom I first met in the 1970s when he was a houseboy in a Columban parish, Eddie, now a teacher. He was born on the feast of St Edward the Confessor, 13 October, and was given the English king's name at baptism. The feast is not observed in the Philippines but his parents got the name from the Almanake, an annual booklet listing all the saints for each day. Eddie's father was murdered when Eddie was a child, leaving his mother Marilyn with four young children.

I officiated at the wedding of Eddie and Anita. I remember one unpleasant detail: it was the only time in 40 years in the Philippines that I had  the highly contagious 'sore eyes', known as 'piskat' in the Cebuano language. I had to borrow dark glasses and managed not to share this 'gift' with anyone else!

Last night I received a text message in Cebuano from Eddie about his daughter Ea, who is married and lives in Iligan City. It read: Ea and the children are now in our house because they were caught in the floods. By the mercy of God, they were all saved because they were able to climb onto the roof of their house. We are taking care of them, especially the children so that they will forget the trauma.

I texted back to Eddie in Cebuano: The mercy of God they were saved.

Eddie replied in English exactly as posted here: yes . . . GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME . . . ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD.

Pope Benedict's General Prayer Intention for January is: Victims of Natural Disasters. That the victims of natural disasters may receive the spiritual and material comfort they need to rebuild their lives.

Countless Filipinos have respond in the way the Holy Father wishes, taking care of the immediate material needs of the victims of the storm. That included prisoners in one jail who do a lot of carpentry work offering to build coffins to be sent to the stricken cities, a very urgent need.

The father in the video is mourning his dead child. Eddie thanks God that his daughter and grandchildren were saved. We cannot understand such things. But Eddie lost his father to a violent and unjust death and knows how precious life is and that it is a gift from God.

One of the greatest gifts God has given the people of the Philippines is a resilient faith, a faith that has a strong sense of gratitude. May it always be so.

The Resilience of the Filipino

A Philippine Coast Guard photo of 'Princess of the Stars' that sank last Sunday during Typhoon Fengshen (Frank) wiht the almost certain loss of more than 700 lives.

The Resilience of the Filipino

Last Friday morning I went by fast craft from Bacolod City to Iloilo City. Bacolod is on the northwest coast of Negros while Iloilo is on the east coast of Panay, an island with four provinces, whereas Negros has two. The sea was calm and the one-hour journey pleasant. I knew that there was a storm forecast to hit Samar, the easternmost island in the Visayas, the group of large islands in the centre of the Philippines. Samar gets hit by many of the 20 or so weather systems that hit the country during the rainy season, usually between June and November or December. Some develop into typhoons.

Fengshen, known in the Philippines as ‘Frank’, turned into a typhoon and instead of heading north turned west and brought winds and rain to Negros and Panay, causing widespread flooding in part of Iloilo City and Province as well as in other places. We had no electricity from Saturday morning in Iloilo City and as of this morning power hadn’t been restored there, according to one of my friends who tested me. He also told me that the water system will be out of order for about a month, something I heard on the radio this afternoon, where ‘about three weeks’ was the projection.

‘Frank’ headed north and hit Manila and northern Luzon. Along the way it caused ‘Princess of the Stars’, a passenger ship with more than 800 on board, to sink very quickly. Why the ship was allowed to sail from Manila on a 22-hour journey south to Cebu is something nobody is prepared to take the blame for. It is the fourth disaster for Sulpicio Lines since 1987, when more than 4,000 sank on 20 December in a vessel that wasn’t supposed to have more than around 1,900 on board. Nobody in the company or in the Philippine Coast Guard has ever been punished for that – the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history.

I went to Iloilo to be part of a Worldwide Marriage Encounter team, which consists of three couples and a priest. Four couples started the weekend, though there should be at least five. But we went ahead.

Next morning two of our team couples and one of the participating couples learned that their houses were flooded. One team husband, Toto Perez, went home while his wife Inday stayed behind, though she wnet home the following morning. In the afternoon one of the participating couples went home to bring their daughter to St Clement’s Retreat House, where we were staying and which was very safe. But it just got too difficult for them to come back, though they had left their things at the retreat house.

Ed and Febs Brasileño, the other team couple whose house was flooded, stayed and their family was able to get to the retreat house on Sunday afternoon.

Despite all the obstacles, the Weekend went ahead and those taking part in it were truly graced by God. I was truly inspired by the dedication of the team couples.

The Ecclesial Team Couple in the Archdiocese of Jaro, located in Iloilo City, Nonoy and Del Tarrosa, were taking care of Del’s father in hospital. It too flooded rather rapidly and everyone on the ground floor (first floor), including Del’s father, had to be moved to the first floor (second floor in American and Philippine English). Yet they both managed to visit the retreat house a number of times to make sure that everything was going well.

The capacity of Filipinos to cope with adversity never ceases to amaze me. The Philippines is more prone to natural calamities than any other country. Yet people pick up the pieces, often after a good cry, and start all over. One of the reasons why they can do so is that they believe that God is with them.

Please pray for all who have suffered, those who lost loved ones, farmers who lost their crops, especially rice at a time when it is scarce, and for the souls of those who died. Pray too for a change of heart in those ultimately responsible for the shipping disaster, which should never have happened.