Singapore: Bernie Osler’s text message from Cebu, one of the Philippine provinces decimated by a super typhoon, said it all.
“Two-day drive to send this,” he said. “We need money, no water, petrol, electricity anywhere, little food. Can’t connect to internet or phone.
Residents walk along a damaged road in Alegria, Cebu province on Wednesday.Credit: AP
“It’s a bombsite here ... people starving. No banks, all demolished. I’m [driving] through sewage, powerlines to send this.”
That was on Tuesday and for the next 48 hours, the family of the Australia-based miner did not hear from him.
It was only two weeks ago that the 40-year-old had finally been able to fly from Queensland to the Philippines to meet his one-year-old son Harley and see his fiancée Cindy, who he had met while on a diving trip.
Now, the New Zealander has found himself in the thick of the country’s most destructive typhoon of the year and its devastating aftermath. Since slamming across the middle of the archipelago at 195kph nearly a week ago, at least 375 people have been reported dead and more than 400,000 have been displaced, their homes destroyed.
Bernie Osler with fiancee Cindy and son Harley last week.
On Thursday, Osler was at last back in touch with his sister Suzy in country Victoria.
Having travelled again to Cebu City to get a phone signal, he said there was such desperation for basic supplies in Candaguit, the coastal village where his fiancee and son live, that some people had resorted to drinking toilet water.
“Hi Suz, things bad here,” he messaged. “Using/gambling last [money] today. No electricity or phone, water or food. Only internet in city 2 hours away. F---ing disaster zone.”
He found a business, he said, selling one bottle per family per day “but if you have no money you can’t buy the water”.
The damage inflicted by typhoon Rai, or Odette as it was called in the Philippines, is being compared to the most powerful storm to hit the country on record, typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 7000 people in 2013.
“The people are saying this is like the Yolanda [as Haiyan was called in the Philippines] before,” said Father Tony Labiao, the Philippines executive secretary of Catholic organisation Caritas, on Thursday.
“There are less casualties but in terms of properties and livelihoods and houses lost, it’s almost the same. It’s a really terrible sight.“
He was speaking from Bohol, the next island to the east, where the governor has warned looting is inevitable if aid does not arrive soon.
Siargao Island was hit by a storm surge as high as three metres.
“It’s a really terrible sight,” Labiao said. “People here in Bohol are in need of water, food, medicine and emergency shelter.
”We’ve come from Cebu, where there 24 municipalities are severely damaged and 80 to 90 per cent of the infrastructure is down. There is no electricity, no water … the communication lines are down.”
The situation is just as bleak on the more remote Siargao Island, a surfing destination off the north-west corner of Mindanao.
It was struck by a three-metre storm surge when Rai arrived, effectively washing some villages away and reducing to rubble much of what remains.
While millions of pesos in relief supplies are said to have been sent there by the private sector, there are reports that they haven’t yet been released at the port.
Back on Cebu, Australian Mike Selfe is trying to organise relief for the 350 staff his outsourcing company employs there.
He said it had been difficult initially to account for everybody but the focus was now on stockpiling food and cash for diesel to keep generators running for their water supply.
“The situation has become so desperate to the point where the hottest commodity at the moment is drinking water,” he said from Adelaide, where he has been coordinating efforts to help staff and families.
“And while we’ve been able to power up a water station to provide for our community, we can’t provide for everyone. We’ve had to have an armed guard put in place to guard the water station like one would guard a bank.
People pass by toppled electrical posts in Cebu province.Credit: AP
“There are some free water stations but the line-ups are huge.”
There were only select banks dispensing money in Cebu City, he said.
‘We’ve had to have an armed guard put in place to guard the water station like one would guard a bank.’
Mike Selfe
“The only ATMs that are up and running are those that are in business precincts because the ATMs are running on a back-up generator ... sometimes there are also ATMs in hotels. But of course, there are very long line-ups,” he said.
“Food supply is not as scarce [as water] but they need cash.”
President Rodrigo Duterte, who on Wednesday visited Surigao and the Dinagat Islands, another province laid waste by the typhoon, has revealed most of the government funds set aside for relief have been depleted by the fight against COVID-19.
“I can promise to the people that help will arrive,” he said on Monday. “Just give us a bit more time because there’s a lot of paperwork in government. For every move you make, there’s a layer of papers. Government works that way.”
On Thursday, a week after Rai made landfall, he reportedly ordered the release of 4 billion pesos ($110 million) to the six affected regions.
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