The text that Freshman Gabriella Sicat’s family received in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan was bittersweet. Her relatives in the Philippines were unhurt, but pleaded for food, water and medicine for their storm-wracked island nation.
The super typhoon tore through the central Philippines last Friday with record 195 mile per hour winds that left behind an estimated death toll of 10,000. One of the fiercest typhoons on record, Haiyan flattened 70 to 80 percent of the structures in its path through the central Leyte province. Tacloban, Leyte’s capital of 220,000, was almost entirely destroyed.
President Benigno Aquino declared a state of national calamity on Monday, Nov. 11. Nearly 660,000 Filipinos have lost their homes and a total of 11 million are affected by the typhoon.
Many in the Southeast Asian nation have no access to food, water, medicine or shelter. Rescue workers and military planes are currently making their way to remote villages along the ravaged central shoreline. The Filipino government has allocated $432.97 million for recovery efforts.
The 600,000 Filipinos living in the Greater Los Angeles area have been awaiting contact from relatives.
“When I heard about the typhoon I felt extremely anxious to reach my family,” Sophomore Stephanie Delos Santos said. “Thankfully, they were not affected.”
The official death toll stood at 2,275 on Nov. 14, Thursday afternoon. Many cities and towns, as well as their residents, are currently unaccounted for.