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| Stock photo of a child. Nongovernment Children Rehabilitation Center* says children were most affected by the damage wrought by Typhoon Yolanda /Haiyan. |
Children of the storm
in need of immediate
psychosocial intervention
THE havoc brought by super Typhoon Yolanda (International name Haiyan) last 8th of November 2013 has caused major devastation to hundreds of thousands of Filipinos.
Around 10,000 individuals are feared to be dead, including children and elderly, while there are still thousands missing.
The provinces of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas and Mindoro Oriental in Southern Luzon were heavily affected, even in highly urbanized city of Tacloban. Many have lost their homes, livelihood and most especially their loved-ones.
Last November 22-25, Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC) under the banner of Task Force Children of the Storm (TFCoS) joined in a National Relief Mission led by BALSA National that brought thousands of relief packages to heavily affected communities in Samar and Leyte.
Aside from relief distribution, TFCoS was able to facilitate debriefing sessions to children and adult beneficiaries. The participants shared their horrible experiences during and after the typhoon, most of them emotionally recalled their loved ones who died because of the typhoon.
CRC have witnessed the magnitude of the impact of the typhoon to the lives and livelihoods of the people of Visayas. Nothing of could be seen but the destroyed infrastructures and disturbing images of the survivors. Typhoon Yolanda has already left but its long-term scars will stay. Survivors are desperately in need of support, from basic necessities like food, potable water, clothes and medicine, up to the assistance that will help them cope with the trauma.
Though local and international aids are gradually extending to the typhoon-ravaged areas, the need to process the survivors’ emotional distress must also be given priority. Many survivors are still in state of shock as they continue to feel uncertainty about their lives and longing for their missing loved ones.
CRC express its great concern on the effects of this traumatic experience to the children, their families and the rest of the communities hit hard by the recent destructive and deadly typhoon. Aside from relief goods, they really need rehabilitation and livelihood for every families and most importantly psychosocial intervention for the children and women survivors.
Aquino must be held accountable for his incompetence in time of disaster and palpable neglect to the needs of the victims. The children and their families have no hope of claiming immediate and genuine response from the government. Initiatives from various organizations, civil societies and the collective effort of the victims themselves to rebuild their lives are much more reliable than those of government’s failed and bubble-promises.
*[Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Inc. (CRC), is a non-stock, non-profit organization active in providing psychosocial intervention to children victims of natural and manmade disasters. CRC is also a member of Task Force Children of the Storm which was formed last 2009 in response to the children victims of Typhoon Ondoy. CRC will also conduct another wave of relief distributions and psychosocial first aid sessions to women and children survivors in affected areas in Samar and Leyte this December.]