Climate Change Refugees

The Fight Shifts /  by John Javellana

A survivor made homeless by Yolanda takes a bath inside a makeshift evacuation center inside a school campus in Tacloban

Children try to cross stagnant water with the help of school chairs that serve as makshift bridges within the premises of an evacuation center inside a school campus in Tacloban.

A mother with her child inside a school that has been converted into an evacuation center in Tacloban

An evacuation center in Palo, Leyte. A lot of evacuation centers here have unbearable living conditions

Scabs being scratched until they turn into open wounds again. Little feet wading through stagnant water which clearly nested a new generation of mosquitoes. The mud that has turned into soot filling various pathways in the maze of mats that would be the sleeping spaces of an entire family or even two once night falls and the world begins to sleep.

It’s hard to imagine how this was once a school built for children to pursue the dreams of a nation and have better lives. Today it is a space for lives that have fought and unspeakably hard fight to survive a monster called Yolanda. 

Today the fight no longer involves hurricane-like winds and tsunami like storm surges. Today the fight is how to stay alive - healthy and as normal as people can be. To call the living conditions of the people who were able to survive inhumane is something that no longer needs validity. People will slowly begin to die in these conditions. 

Every single survivor I have met and had the chance to speak to have never been short of thankful for how much love and care the world has given as they know they are still alive because of the aid and relief. It has been pouring. And they owe their lives to every single donation that the world has given.

The survivors need help to figure out a way to live for the long-term. It now turns into restoring human dignity and providing liveable spaces for the people who have lost so much.

The Struggle for Relief /  by John Javellana

People lining up for aid distributed by BALSA Mindanao, a citizen-led action group that provides various help to disaster struck areas.

It was a gorgeous afternoon. The golden light was falling softly everywhere. For a while it didn’t look like a disaster area even if the landscape said otherwise because it was backdropped by a fantastic golden light. 

What brought me back was the sight of people surrounding a truck which I immediately assumed was relief since it’s the only reason I could think of for them doing so. True enough, it was a truck with a banner of BALSA, a citizen-led organisation that I’ve been seeing in other disasters such as typhoon Pablo as well as Sendong. 

The survivors were in line across the highway but it was obvious that there was no clear line. Children, pregnant women, the elderly fought hard against grown men just to jostle for position in their line. Individuals raising their stubs meant to keep the lines in check gave you a feeling that these stubs contributed more to the feeling of righteousness these certain individuals have to haggle each other instead of keeping them in line. You see the faces of the elderly trying their best to stay conscious and not to cry amidst the bruising bodies of grown men. The kids disappeared from sight as they tried to grasp for air within the crowd that dwarfed them. The crooked lines of three became five. And then six. And then it was a free for all that was trying to surround the truck. It was a mob that was waiting to happen.

The natural instinct was to get out and re-group which was a good thing for the distribution team to do despite the disappointment of the residents. The barangay captain was clearly overwhelmed and couldn’t handle the situation anymore even with the proper initial coordination that BALSA has made to ensure a systematic distribution.

Relief distribution is not something as easy as simply giving things away. A system or proper coordination with authorities other than the LGU's might be a good idea for smaller groups such as BALSA which do not have the same manpower as the bigger international aid agencies might not have.