Tacloban City—Exactly one year after Super Typhoon Odette swept through Southern Leyte on Dec. 16, 2021, the Leyteños have yet to put a closure on their nightmarish experience as they struggle to recover from the storm’s catastrophic impact on their lives.
“While we are no longer in the same state as we were in the first few months after the storm, full recovery is still out of sight. Public facilities such as schools, multi-purpose buildings, and evacuation centers still need repairs; peoples’ houses remain in ruins, our farmers’ crops are still unproductive, and our fisherfolks are still left with no boats,” said Southern Leyte Rep. Christopherson Yap.
“We still need assistance from the government and our partners in the private sector and the international community,” Yap added.
“We are slowly recovering,” said Gabriel Villasotes, a storm survivor in Anahawan town.
However, Maasin City Mayor Nacional Mercado painted a better picture for the place, saying although it has not yet fully recovered, it is getting back on track.”
“The people of Maasin City won’t forget that fateful day when Odette hit our city. It was indeed one of the strongest and most destructive typhoons ever on record, but we could not thank enough our partners from the different private and government sectors who extended assistance and support to us,” Mercado recalled.
“Significantly, we have prioritized the rehabilitation of our city hall, relocation sites, the Maasin City gymnasium, and other multipurpose gymnasium of our barangays as these are important in the delivery of basic services to our constituents,” he added.
According to the mayor, Maasin “is now at 80 percent in terms of rehabilitation.”
“The remaining 20 percent are mostly on road infrastructures, barangay halls, and others. As to agriculture, we’re at 70 percent in terms of rehabilitation, and our people have somehow slowly rebuilt their homes,” Mercado told Manila Standard.
Odette destroyed a total of 94,173 houses and left an estimated P1.57 billion worth of damage to agriculture in the entire province.
“As we revisit the sorrow of our losses as a result of the typhoon, we must also remember that despite the immense devastation it caused, we have come together and have been rebuilding our communities and our livelihoods ever since,” Yap said.
“In honor of your courage and resilience, I stand with you in solidarity in order to support and uplift your voices,” Yap said as he enjoined the residents in commemorating the first anniversary of Super Typhoon Odette after it hit the province on December 16, 2021.
Yap called on his constituents to help in spreading the word about the “immense suffering and loss” Super Typhoon Odette brought upon the people of Southern Leyte.
“You can do this on social media by using the hashtag #SouthernLeyteSTILLNeedsHelp. I hope this will get the government and the rest of the world to realize that our people still need help and support, and that our disaster-prone province needs to be rebuilt and made stronger against future climate-related disasters,” Yap said.
“Let us continue to stand with Southern Leyte as it moves forward on its road to recovery,” he added.
The lawmaker gave assurance that he “will remain committed to assisting the province of Southern Leyte in its efforts to rebuild and recover and to ensuring that everyone receives the support and assistance they deserve.”
“But we did not expect that our residents will suffer so badly…The debris left behind by Odette can no longer be seen, but our people are still suffering from this typhoon,” he said.
Odette, which strengthened from a Category 1 to 5 typhoon in just a day, happened eight years after Eastern Visayas was also struck by Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, which leveled most of the region’s capital of Tacloban City and nearby towns, killing over 6,000 people.
“While not as powerful as Yolanda, Odette damaged houses, infrastructure, and livelihoods on a comparable scale. It struck as people across the Philippines were already coping with increasing poverty, unemployment, and a roll-back on development gains following two years of the pandemic,” said the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).
“Their resources are now depleted, and local coping capacities are severely strained. One bright spot amid Odette’s destruction was the significantly lower number of casualties, which is thanks to pre-emptive measures undertaken by communities and Governments,” the agency said in January 2022, as it compared the two powerful storms.
Citing a report from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Ocha reported that Odette killed at least 409 people, injuring thousands and cumulatively displacing nearly 3.2 million people, of whom around 144,000 remain displaced.
It also wiped out P13.3 billion worth of agricultural products.
“Many more are living in damaged shelters with little access to basic services,” the UN agency said.
The heavily affected regions were Regions XIII (Caraga), VI (Western Visayas), VII (Central Visayas), VIII (Eastern Visayas) and IV-B (Mimaropa), while the affected communities were in the provinces of Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte, Southern Leyte, Bohol, and Cebu City.