With prayers and tears, Philippines remembers the devastation of Haiyan
One year on, survivors of the strongest typhoon ever to hit land gather at mass grave sites to remember thousands who were less fortunate
Survivors of the strongest typhoon ever to hit land wept at mass graves yesterday during ceremonies to mark one year since the storm devastated the central Philippines and condemned millions to deeper poverty.
The typhoon tore across a corridor of islands where about 14 million people lived in farming and fishing communities that were already among the nation's poorest.
The rebuilding effort has been painfully slow for most survivors, with millions poorer and many dangerously exposed to the next big storm as they still live in shanty homes along coastal areas.
In an outpouring of grief, thousands marched to mass grave sites scattered across the typhoon zone to offer flowers, light candles and say prayers.
Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos also attended the anniversary events. Her son, Ferdinand, namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and popularly known as Bongbong, said it was his mother's first visit to her home province since it was wracked by the typhoon.
Imelda Marcos, a congresswoman for her husband's home province of Ilocos Norte, spent her younger years in Leyte after her father returned there following her mother's death in the capital, Manila.
Josephine Crisostomo, 41, whose three children died during the storm, was among a large crowd at a site on the outskirts of the badly hit city of Tacloban, where more than 2,000 people were buried.
"I miss my children terribly, especially John Dave who would have celebrated his birthday tomorrow... I miss you, son, I love you so much," Crisostomo said.
Using felt-tip pens, mourners wrote names of those who died on the hundreds of white crosses planted on parched earth in symbolic gestures, as many of those buried had not been identified.
"I am looking for my brother, but his name is not on the list of those buried here," Elena Olendan, 50, said, her eyes welling with tears, as she wandered around the grave site, about the size of six basketball courts.
Olendan then found a cross at the far end of the mass grave and wrote her brother's name, Antonio, on it.
The Philippines is a mainly Catholic country and many people in the typhoon zones, as well as across the nation, attended special church services.
At the Tacloban grave site, white doves and balloons were released after a bishop gave a mass.
Tacloban city mayor Alfred Romualdez, who attended the ceremony, said Saturday's solemn rites gave the survivors an opportunity to let emotions come out. "It's bittersweet because while they survived, they lost their loved ones, their livelihood and their homes," Romualdez said.
The build-up to the anniversary had focused renewed attention on the pace of the reconstruction effort, with President Benigno Aquino's government criticised by many for a perceived lack of urgency.
Family took a selfie amid terror of storm, thinking it would be their last
David Saavedra raised his phone in the chaos to snap a group selfie to record their final moments. He took it for his eldest sister in Manila, hoping to show that at the end, her family was together - even serene.
That explains his smile, incongruous against the wind-ripped scene and the terror-stricken faces of his sister, Veronica, and their mother.
The picture was intended to go on top of David's coffin, but instead it is a reminder of the family's luck, and of the obligation they feel to help neighbours who weren't as fortunate when the typhoon hit on November 8, 2013.
More than 7,350 people died or went missing when Haiyan, the strongest storm to make landfall anywhere, slammed into the central Philippines, including the Saavedras' laidback farming town of Tanauan. The storm displaced about four million people and turned a large swathe of densely populated communities into a wasteland.
"I said 'I love you' to my parents because I felt at that time that it was our last day alive," Veronica Saavedra said. "I was so afraid I was trembling and I said, 'Lord, if this is my last day, forgive me for everything'."
The 21-year-old college student said even while praying, she was terrified by the loud hissing of the wind, and memories of the rising water hounded her sleep for months.
The Saavedras - David, Veronica, their brother JR, their mother and their father - all survived. Three other siblings were in Manila and one was in Kuwait.
Many other families had very different fates. In a nearby village, all but two of a 45-member clan are buried in a mass grave.
When the rain and wind finally subsided, David, a 26-year-old accountant, left the cramped hallway on the second floor of the wood-and-concrete home where he and his family were huddled while hell broke loose. He saw bodies floating on the street outside.
"In just one click, everything can be snatched from you," David said, tears welling in his eyes. "But the feeling that you are still alive after that is really overwhelming."