"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast"
(1 Peter 5: 10).
On the evening of December 16th, Typhoon Odette (Rai) made landfall in the Philippines. The storm unexpectedly stalled just off-shore, allowed it to gain strength and become a Category 5-equivalent Super Typhoon. When it made landfall it had 10-minute sustained wind speeds of 195 km/h and 1-minute sustained wind speeds of 260 km/h. Every older Cebuano I've spoken with since the storm has said the same thing: "this is the strongest storm I can ever remember hitting Cebu."
From 6:00pm and onward, our family spent the night putting out buckets and mopping up floors. Leaks in our ceiling had us worried that portions of our roof were gone (not to mention the sound of large metal objects clanging down the road every few minutes). At around 9:00pm we lost power and switched to flashlights and candles. The sound of the wind and the large amounts of water hitting the windows made it seem more like we were on a boat instead of in our home.
Every older Cebuano I've spoken with since the storm has said the same thing: "this is the strongest storm I can ever remember hitting Cebu."
After the wind died down at around 10:30/11:00pm, Heather and I, along with a couple of our kids, went outside to assess the damage. By the grace of God, the damage to our home was minimal. Our large fan palm had fallen over, narrowly missing the house and our neighbor's car. It was laying across the road, blocking it entirely. Our windows and roof were intact, though sadly our neighbors weren't as lucky. Pieces of roof and awning lay in the street and our neighbor's second story window (two houses over) was completely broken.
The Shelter (Children's Shelter of Cebu, or CSC) also suffered some damage but fared far better than most. When the sun came up in the morning, we tried walking up the road to the Shelter but found that the route was impassable. All of the power lines and a number of trees had fallen onto the road, completely blocking off access. Some brave souls were skirting past the power lines on foot, but we decided to try another route. There is a back way through a large cemetery that my family and I often use as a short cut. Taking this route allows us to approach the Shelter from the other direction. Sadly, after walking through the cemetery, we found that the power lines on that end of the road were even worse!
We eventually made it to the Shelter and were greeted with smiling, but tired, faces. A large tree had fallen, breaking the main water line leading to one of the homes. Another large tree had also fallen on the Cherne Home, damaging a number of the solar panels. Every large tree on the property was splintered or knocked over, as was our guard shack. A number of windows were broken and pieces of roofing from the neighboring condo tower were all over the main yard.
By the grace of God, everyone was safe and well. Some of the workers were really shaken up, but believe it or not, all of the toddlers slept through the storm! Kids are amazing 😊.
It has been a long road to recovery, but we are praising God that no one was injured. Homes can be rebuilt, solar panels can be replaced, and power lines can be restored. Thank you all for praying with us!
You can view more pictures of the Shelter on CSC's Facebook page here.
THE AFTERMATH: LONG LINES
Typhoon Odette knocked out power, water, and communications throughout the island. This made for extremely long lines for water and fuel. The reason for the increased demand for fuel was twofold: many homes and businesses needed diesel or gas to run their generators, and; most gas stations pump fuel with electric pumps. If the storm hadn't destroyed a gas station, the lack of electricity still kept many from operating. The few gas stations that were open had generators. Some others were able to serve customers using their manual pump, which means that the employees took turns hand-pumping gas for the long-lines of waiting vehicles! Many people desperately lined up at dawn only to wait for 8-12 hours to fill up their tanks.
Through it all, what we witnessed was a beautiful display of compassion, care, and community. We did our best to help all those around us, and it was heart-warming to see nearly everyone doing the same. While it would take weeks to remove fallen trees, debris, and downed power lines, it seemed each person was willing to help out the other.
The storm and lack of electricity also stopped tap water from working throughout the city. Fire trucks were deployed to address the need. By January 5th, 21 days after the typhoon, MCWD (the Metro Cebu Water District) had only restored tap water to ~75% of households.
Fortunately, just two days after the storm, the tap water was restored at our home. We opened our home to friends who needed to take showers and invited folks to bring large tubs to gather water for use in their own homes. The tap water in Cebu isn't typically potable, so there was still a need for drinking water, creating long lines at water refilling stations.
DRINKING WATER AND CSC
Miraculously, on Christmas Eve, CSC's Office and Johnson Teen Home had its power restored! We assume it was because of our proximity to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC). The power company prioritized getting power restored to emergency facilities like hospitals, clinics, etc. What a blessing!
To address our need for drinking water, our Facilities Director, Jerry Salgo, had a conversation with a fresh water refilling station next door to our office. They still didn't have power, but we were able to strike a deal. We would run a long extension cord to them in exchange for drinking water. The partnership was a true blessing for CSC and for the surrounding community.
In the weeks that followed, CSC's Office became a "home base" of sorts with people coming regularly to recharge battery operated fans, power bricks, flashlights, and cell phones. It was also one of the few places in town with some internet (albeit unstable). We could serve the families of our employees by providing drinking water though we had to limit how much we gave out; the water refilling station next-door could only refill so many 5-gallon jugs per day.
By New Year's Eve, power was back at our house, though the internet would still remain down for three more weeks. VECO (the Visayan Electric Company) had done an amazing job trying to get power restored to the island, but the damage to the power lines was so severe that by the end of January only ~80% of customers had power again. Most of those with power were in the City. Unfortunately, many households in the mountain barangays and in the province are still without power as of the time of writing.
In hindsight, the time without power was a blessing to our family. Like the pandemic, the experience drew us closer together and opened even more opportunities for us to connect with and serve our community. Heather did an amazing job keeping everyone fed using our little gas grill, though I think all of the kids were tired of sandwiches and canned goods by the end of it. We are so extremely thankful to God for allowing us to weather the storm, and we are so thankful to all of you for praying with us!
Pictured from left to right: 1) long line at One Pavilion's grocery story, 2) long line at the local Petron gas station, 3) another view of the gas-station line, 4) our small gas grill, 5) grilled ham breakfast, 6) grilled hot dog dinner by candle light, 7) line at one of the stores with supplies
Relief, Rebuild, Restore
In the wake of Typhoon Odette, over half a million homes were lost or severely damaged. As a shelter for orphaned, abandoned, and surrendered homeless Filipino kids, we're not equipped for large-scale disaster relief. However, we do excel in partnering with local churches and non-government organizations—we're connected with people at the front-lines of calamities like this one—and we're connected to all of you who have such genuine care and concern for the people of the Philippines. Thank you again for praying with us and for partnering with us.
After a calamity such as this one, there are typically three stages to disaster relief: relief, rebuild, and restore. Through it all, our prayer is that we can be a reflection of God's love and Gospel, for we know that it is God who "will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:10). Our hope is that the work we do restoring lives and livelihoods will exemplify the restoring work God does in the hearts of those love and trust Him.
By partnering with the Rotary Club of Cebu (RCC), Shelter Box, Virginia Foods, and the Cebu Contractor's Association (CCA), we've been able to help deliver shelter kits and other supplies to communities just south of Cebu City. In areas just south of the eye of the storm, entire towns and fishing villages were flattened. The mountain-side looked the way it does in America after a wildfire; most trees were knocked over and the ones left standing had no leaves. It's hard to describe the conditions these families were living in.
Relief
Rebuild
Restore
Relief: Addressing immediate needs.
Over the weekends of Christmas and New Years, we joined with the organizations mentioned above to provide immediate relief. This primarily included food and water (fresh water was the biggest need) as well as other basic supplies like blankets, slippers, and sleeping mats. Spearheaded by RCC's Disaster Relief Committee (of which Roberto is a part), supplies were brought to locales south of Cebu City that were out of reach for many government and international relief efforts. Many of these communities, like those around Argao and Dalaguete, were difficult to get to because of fallen trees and debris. Fortunately, with a lot of planning and prayer, we were able to make it through. RCC connected directly with barangay captains and local leaders to make sure relief was brought to those that needed it most. Heather and Dietrich are pictured below helping with crowd control in one of the heavy hit barangays.
In the following weeks, we continued focusing on hard to reach places like mountain communities and even small islands off the coast of Cebu. These trips were all documented on the Rotary Club of Cebu's Facebook page here.
Rebuild: Rebuilding what was broken.
While still technically part of the rebuild phase of disaster relief, we've also been able to help with the delivery and distribution of shelter kits from Shelter Box International. These kits include basic tools and building materials needed to create safe, temporary shelters. Not only were these kits delivered, but the people in these communities were instructed, and aided, in the assembly of these temporary homes. The kits include solar lights and provided much needed protection from the elements, and the truth of it is that these temporary homes were often the same build quality as the long-term homes many were living in prior to the typhoon.
Through CSC's Outreach Program, we've also helped bring building supplies and relief goods to families connected to the ministry; former residents of the Children's Shelter of Cebu that have been reintegrated into the community.
Restore: Restoring lives and livelihoods
We ask that you please pray with us as we continue the ongoing work of sharing God's love by helping to restore lives. We truly couldn't do this without you and are so grateful for your prayers, love, and support! Lord-willing, we will provide more updates as our internet services stabilizes. The Lord's blessings with you all!
Learn more about the Children's Shelter of Cebu here.
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