TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – For more than a week now, government and international aid groups have been scrambling to bring relief to those devastated by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

The problem is, those efforts are something the victims themselves know nothing about. Power is still down in the Samar and Leyte islands, and communication lines have yet to be restored in some areas.

Even in towns where cellphone signals have been restored, the signal comes and goes. In Tacloban City, for instance, various rumors have been circulating as a result of the lack of communication.

Misinformation

“Mas marami pa tayong alam sa Manila or sa iba na may ilaw kaysa dito, wala talagang alam kaya maraming tsismis na kumakalat,” Bibs Estacaan, a reporter of foreign group First Response Radio, told Rappler.

(People in Manila or in places with electricity know more than the victims here, they really don’t know anything which is why many rumors are spreading.)

Locals thought the entire city would be quarantined, that Yolanda had killed over 16,000 in Tacloban alone, and that crime was rampant in the city. All of those are untrue.

It’s a gap First Response Radio is trying to fill. Since Thursday, November 14, the group has been broadcasting important information and messages of hope to the city.

The group operates on the 3rd floor of the Tacloban City Hall, now home to various foreign aid groups. First Response Radio relies on their generator since power is still out in Tacloban, but the scarcity of fuel is also a problem.

Magnolia Yrasuegui, team leader of the group, said fuel can cost up to P300 per liter in the Tacloban black market. “So we rely on donations,” she added. Their broadcast duration depends on the kindness of locals who are also in need of fuel.

Spreading hope

Estacaan and Yrasuegui admitted that at first, they thought their efforts weren’t amounting to anything. Many belongings were washed away during the storm surge, radios included.

But reassurance came in the form of a local parish priest who dropped by the station to say thank you.

Estacaan, along with another reporter of First Response Radio, has been going around the city, interviewing locals from all walks of life – from city officials to ordinary citizens.

By Sunday, November 17, the station and the Philippine Government’s Philippine Information Agency will start broadcasting First Response Radio via speakers mounted on roving vehicles.

Despite the devastation in the city, she said hope is starting to bubble up.

“Giving the microphone to the people, telling their own stories to their own people. That in itself, sobra yung hope, yung pag-asa (hope is overflowing),” Escataan added.

Hope is as precious as food, water, or fuel here in Tacloban.

“Every time I ask them what their message is to their city-mates, they would say: ‘Kaya natin ‘to, makaka-angat rin tayo. Kaya rin natin ‘to basta sama-sama tayo (we can do this, we will prevail. We can survive as long as we’re together),'” she said.

Whether it be in the form of encouraging messages posted outside damaged houses, or through a public address system, the message of Yolanda survivors to each other is clear: we will overcome, as long as we help each other. – Rappler.com