Filipinos in trauma
Devastated by typhoon tragedy, community seeks to raise funds
dubai — As one of the strongest typhoons on record ravaged their nation, UAE-based Filipinos have called on the community here to unite and rally to raise funds.
Relatives in the UAE faced an anxious wait due to a communication blackout after Typhoon Haiyan slammed into six central Philippine islands, wiping away buildings and leaving millions homeless.
Matilyn Bagunu, president of the Dubai and Northern Emirates wing of the non-governmental organisation FilCom, said many in the UAE had not been able to get through to their family members and friends living in the worst-affected areas, as communication services had been down since Super Typhoon Haiyan hit on Friday — killing hundreds, uprooting homes and wreaking devastation across most of the country.
The worst estimates of the death toll pit it above 1,000, while the Philippines Government has estimated more than four million people across 36 provinces have been affected in the worst typhoon this year.
“There are so many Filipino leaders whose families back home have been affected, their homes have been washed out, especially in the Visayas region — that’s why we have to club together and raise money,” Bagunu said.
It was hard to believe so much destruction had occurred in the space of just one hour, but Bagunu said it was certainly the worst she could remember ever hitting the notoriously typhoonprone archipelago.
“Worried is the name of the game, and expats here are still worried because there is no communication at all, they don’t know what’s happened to their families back home, they cannot reach them at all.”
The devastation comes just weeks after the country’s deadliest earthquake in more than two decades — with the energy released during the quake equivalent to more than 30 Hiroshima bombs — in Bohol province, which killed at least 222 people.
Junelyn Jaso, a legal secretary at a Dubai property firm who hails from Surigao, has tried to be in constant contact with her teenage sons, but due to knocked-down power and communication lines, this has proven to be difficult.
“I just pray that they are safe; there is not much I can do since I am here far away from them,” she said. “While I am rather confident that I have taught them what needs to be done in these events, of course I cannot help but be worried since nature’s wrath cannot be controlled.”
More sentimental was salesman Norberto Ferreras. His family is in Sorsogon in the Bicol region, one of the hardest-hit places by Typhoon Haiyan.
“I keep praying,” was all he could muster, before adding he could not concentrate on anything else until his calls to the Philippines were answered.
Bagunu said FilCom had arranged a fund-raising brunch in the wake of the disaster, but would be rallying the community to dig deep at a number of intended charity events for the much larger crisis.
The first event would be another “Brunch for a Cause” this Friday, with 100 per cent of the proceeds to be distributed across the Philippines.
“This is something else...for the whole country, the whole region that has been devastated.”
She said that after last December’s Typhoon Pablo, a similar fundraising brunch cobbled together about Dh27,000, but the target for this brunch is at least Dh30,000 — and that would just be the start of fund-raising efforts, with a walk for a cause already in the pipeline, in order to raise the highest amount ever from the UAE.
“We have to, we are going to. This is the worst, we really have to do our best as Filipinos, we cannot just cry here, we have to do something to help them out. Every dirham counts,” she said.
Bagunu, whose province Isabela was only lightly affected, said she was hoping individual sponsors and donors would also come forward, but there was no set goal in mind for the total fundraising efforts.
She sent a message of love to those at home and encouraged all Filipinos across the world to draw together. “No matter what differences we have, it’s time for us to unite.”
The “Brunch for a Cause” will be held at the Philippines Consulate General Office in Al Qusais from 11am to 4pm, at a cost of Dh50 per person.