Saturday, November 9, 2013 – continued:

By the time that we left the apartment to go to Tolosa, about 3 miles away, it was early in the afternoon.

When the Zone Leaders had visited the day before, they had told us that their apartment had been destroyed, but that we were welcome to come to the Tolosa chapel, which many of the members were still using as a shelter since their homes had been destroyed by the wind. We supposed that the Tolosa Chapel might be better supplied than any other place that we could seek shelter that was nearby, especially since it functions as the District Center for the Tolosa District, which presides over many of the congregations on the eastern shore of Leyte. We figured that the leadership there would be more in control of the situation, and that any relief effort coming top-down through the church would probably arrive there first, not only because of its District Center function, but also because it was the closest chapel in the District to Tacloban City, which we still assumed to be less-affected than where we were.

(In this regard, we were correct in assuming that the intensity of the storm was less in Tacloban, however, we vastly overestimated the gradation of intensity. We were still unaware of how the geography of the area had caused more severe flooding there, and we hadn’t yet considered how the much, much higher population density of Tacloban City played a part in its susceptibility to the calamity.)

As we walked up to the highway, we were careful not to step in the sinkhole in the water, since falling would get all of the things that we had saved in our bags very wet, and saving them from the typhoon itself would have been for nothing. We successfully made it through the still-flooded parts of the neighborhood to the highway and began the walk to Tolosa.

Earlier in the day, it had seemed that everyone that had a car or truck that could still turn on was now driving to Tacloban. The motivating idea at that point for most was that everyone was thinking that there must be food and water in Tacloban. It’s where the government was, it’s where all of the biggest stores were, and everyone assumed that its big, strong buildings must be undamaged.

By the time that we were heading out, though, most of the traffic heading in that direction had stopped. Apparently, either all of the readily mobile vehicles had already left, or no one else was leaving for Tacloban anymore on the odds that they might not arrive in Tacloban while there was still daylight.

As we began our walk, we began to see that the situation had changed since the morning. Many of the people now had nothing. They had nothing to eat, nothing to sleep in, nothing to their name, and nothing to do. They were just sitting. Maybe they had nailed some corrugated steel to some standing rubble to make a temporary shelter, or maybe they had finished rinsing and hanging to dry the clothes that they were able to salvage, or maybe a member of the family was engaged in cooking what little food they had left, but now these people had nothing to do but sit and watch people go by.

As we passed them, we could see that many were either in denial or just incredibly resilient. Some looked like they were in shock. Some of them talked to us as we passed. They said good afternoon and asked where we were going, where we were coming from, and other normal questions that might have been asked on a normal day. We were careful not to be too specific as to where we were coming from and where we were going so as to not draw any interest to our belongings that we had left, or where we planned to spend the night with the food and water that we had saved. Normally, sharing would have been something we would have liked to do with people who had just lost everything, but there was probably no one in less of a position to give than us. We had a day’s worth of food left, and we didn’t know what food we would eat after that.

I hadn’t made a very strong effort to pack light, as I had only reluctantly decided to leave all of my things at all, so between my duffel bag on one shoulder and the backpack on both, the load I was carrying put a lot of stress on my shoulders and back, and as we continued on, we decided to set my heavier duffel on top of Elder Oakes’ small rolling suitcase and take turns pulling it. Elder Oakes ended up pulling the suitcase and duffel for most of the time since his forearms match the rest of him in girth.

At about halfway to Tolosa, we met our local San Roque Branch Mission Leader, Brother Rudevic Babiera, who was carrying a few kilograms of rice on his bicycle headed for San Roque. He had been there for the storm, but had gone north to neighboring Tanauan to check on the people there.

As we talked with him and he began to tell us all that he knew, we began to get an idea of the actual scope of the disaster. He had only heard of a handful of casualties in San Roque and Tolosa, mostly from people deserting their shelter when the flooding started.  But starting in Tanauan to the north, there was currently an estimated 200+ dead. He had heard that hundreds more had died in Palo, further to the north, and last of all, he had heard that at the Astrodome, one of the major evacuation centers in downtown Tacloban City, the building had collapsed and three thousand were dead inside.

(We later learned that what had actually spawned this rumor, which was not far from the truth, was that once all floors of the building had been filled far beyond capacity, they had locked the doors, probably to keep them from blowing open. When the storm surge arrived, the building, located on the shore, was filled with water with thousands of people trapped inside.)

Concerning Tanauan, he told us that the chapel had survived, but had sustained quite a bit of damage from wind and rain. He jokingly attributed this to the extremely large number of non-members that had sought refuge within the walls of the Tanauan Chapel, which is one of the larger and newer chapels in the region.

He asked if his father had come by our apartment during the day. He said that his family was safe and fine, but that his father, the Sunday School President, had been very concerned about our welfare during the storm, and had considered checking on us after the storm. He told us that while his family was safe, their home on the beach, where we had enjoyed a Family Home Evening just three nights earlier, was completely gone. The house, built upon the sand, had literally been washed away.

They were lucky to have sought shelter elsewhere. Many families in even the most flimsy of structures had refused to leave, or had left a member of the family to take care of their home while the rest of the family sought shelter in an evacuation site. One of the most important things that the leadership did in Tolosa District the day before and morning of the storm was to visit all of the members in dangerous places who had refused to evacuate and try to convince them to leave. More than a few lives were saved by those who were out all night long pulling people out of their homes that would not survive the storm.

Before we parted, we asked them if they had any clean water to drink.  He said they did, but it was only from a hand pump. The water was clear, but it was probably not very good to be drinking after the storm. My companion, Elder Oakes, had come to the mission with two medium-volume water filters. He gave the smaller of the two to the Branch Mission Leader, who would be able to provide at least some clean water to the members in San Roque, Tolosa, and Tanauan. It wouldn’t be enough for everyone, but at least those who were in a more sensitive physical or medical condition could be provided with clean water to drink.

After we parted, it was late afternoon, and the sun would soon be going down. We continued our walk to Tolosa, and arrived at the chapel there just as the sun was setting. The chapel had taken some damage to the roof, but the rest was intact. We were both surprised at how clean they were keeping the building. With nothing else to do, some of the church members had kept themselves busy using the mops to keep the floor exceptionally clean. There was even a hand-written sign asking those entering to take off their shoes if possible. We asked where the Zone Leaders were, and they said that they were probably still at their apartment. We left some of our bags in the chapel and headed over to their apartment.

We were still under the impression that the apartment had been destroyed, and assumed that the Zone Leaders were then just engaged in salvage work as many others in the area had been. We had to climb over rubble and under downed power lines to get to their apartment.

We were surprised to see that the apartment was still mostly there, only a small section of the roof was missing or damaged, and a few windows were broken. We met them inside and learned that they were about to go to the church, and that they had bought some food that people had been selling and were preparing to bring it to the members.

(A very large quantity of livestock was lost during the storm. Many pigs that had died in the storm were quickly processed so that they could still be eaten instead of being completely lost to decay.)

They said we would be able to sleep in their apartment and that they had an extra two mattresses that were only slightly damp. They had a few blue 5 gallon water containers that they had filled at a hand pump nearby. They had been drinking it, and said that it was clean, but since we had a filter with us, we decided that it was a risk that we didn’t need to be taking.

We talked to them about the situation and what they had heard. They said that while the storm was bad, no one had any food or water anymore. There were only a few pumps that were stilll working, no clean water, and all of the food that normally would flow from Tacloban City to all of the nearby communities was no longer coming.  They believed that it would not more than a few days until people would begin fighting for food. Already, the day afterwards, even the church was virtually out of food.

(It is important to note at this point that Filipino culture functions on an extremely day-to-day and meal-to-meal basis. Almost no one will buy any food until they are ready to prepare the meal. Food storage at most homes almost never reaches past the needs of dinner later in the day. Even the largest stores in the Municipality have no inventory beyond what is already on the shelf. Even in well-established restaurants in Manila, like Jollibee, inventory is often so limited that they run out of menu items on a regular basis. When the storm hit, all of the food was gone within days.)

We left first to go and get our bags, and the Zone Leaders were to follow shortly. We left in a slightly different way than we had come, and it was slightly easier. We got back to the chapel and were glad that all of our things were still there. As we were about to leave, a sister well advanced in years asked if she could borrow my flashlight. She had a grandson who needed to use the restroom, but since there was no more power, it was super dark, and the grandson couldn’t use the bathroom in the dark. We let her borrow the flashlight, and 5 minutes later, we left back to the Zone Leaders’ apartment.

When we got back, we broke the last glowstick, and decided that it would be a good time to set up the filter. With a little bit of problem solving, we were able to prime the filter and set it up to filter a gallon at a time. (It was a gravity-fed system. One bag of water was hung on the wall, and the filter and the receiving bag are attached to the end of a small rubber hose.)

After filling up our water bottles and pulling out the slightly damp leather mattresses, we prepared to call it a day. I pulled out the sheet that I had packed and was able use it to sleep on. When the zone leaders got back, they got out the mail that had survived the storm and would have been brought to Zone Meeting the following Tuesday. I got two letters from the Stake Presidency, a letter from the Bairds in Maryland, and a Halloween letter from my family. It was strange to get the mail at such a time. Elder Oakes also got one letter.

We talked about what we were going to do the next day. Sacrament meeting was going to be held in the Tolosa Chapel early in the morning. The most pressing concern was that the Zone Leaders had extremely limited food storage. They had only two small cans of non-perishable food, and some bananas that they had bought for the church members. The Zone Leaders had originally planned to go to Tacloban either on Sunday or Monday, but had gotten news that they needed to go south to check on an Elder in Dulag that had been bitten by a snake.

Since the Zone Leaders were going to be leaving after sacrament meeting, we decided that we probably would be leaving for Tacloban once they left. We considered waiting until Monday to leave, just in case someone came looking for us, but seeing that no relief had arrived in Tolosa yet, our best chances were probably in heading north to Tacloban.

We correctly assumed that Tacloban would surely be the nucleus of any relief effort. Any help arriving from outside would be there first.  Any direction arriving from outside would be there first. We also figured that if the missionaries that were unable to remain in their areas were going to be gathering anywhere, they would be gathering in Tacloban at the mission office and mission home.