Last December 16, 2021, Supertyphoon Odette (internationally known as Rai) struck multiple parts of Visayas and Mindanao including Surigao, Palawan, Cebu, Bohol,  Negros Oriental and Southern Leyte. While the total death, missing person, and injury rate in all affected areas are not as grave, the real impact is in the destruction of infrastructures, homes, and cities as a whole. 

Having survived the typhoon myself, I saw my home, Cebu City, transform into a ruined wasteland overnight. Roofs and debris scattered all over the street, trees, and powerlines knocked over, blocking the roads, and come nighttime, extremely dark streets lit only by the moon and headlights from passing cars. It took me a while to get (very spotty) service after the typhoon and I checked the news online to see the full picture of the aftermath. 

All affected cities looked like scenes straight from a post-apocalyptic movie the morning after the tragedy. With a pandemic ongoing and the lack of anticipation on how severe the typhoon would become, everyone was not prepared for the lifestyle changes it would bring: no electricity, signal, and water – with the Cebu City government announcing that everything would be back to normal in a month. Worse was the lack of media coverage and news to unaffected areas like Manila and abroad due to the termination of ABS-CBN’s contract by the Duterte administration during the start of the pandemic. This in turn left many worried fellow Filipinos in the dark about the whereabouts of their loved ones who lived in those areas. 

In the first few days after, hundreds of people would queue in the streets in search of gasoline, water, cash, groceries, and charging stations. While everyone is virtually affected by the crisis, not everyone is in the same boat. The privileged are able to move into temporary shelters like hotels and condominiums with generators, many poor people lost their homes to the typhoon. While some would pray for rain to spare them from the hot weather while others don’t wish it because they lost a part of their entire roof or house. 

Cebu City is known for its relief efforts when neighboring areas are affected by calamities. Being the second-largest metropolitan in the Philippines, it serves as the business and trade hub for the Visayas. In fact, many donation drives were initiated in Cebu with the help of other provinces to help provide relief packages to affected communities despite the damages. Thankfully with the cooperation of electricity and water providers from unaffected regions, Cebu is slowly being rebuilt into normalcy.

While electricity and water were slowly being restored in different affected areas, not everyone was able to celebrate Christmas and New Year with water and electricity but nonetheless, Cebuanos are grateful and humble people. Despite their situation, they are cooperative and resilient and they do their best to continue on with their lives while helping others and waiting for full restoration.

Learn Tagalog

Learn Cebuano

Learn Ilocano