This article is from page 4 of the 2013-11-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
AN ENNIS woman admits she still fears for her family’s safety following the super typhoon that has devastated her native Philippines.
The family of café worker Vicky Garcia escaped harm when Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines on November 4.
Vicky says her village of Camburnan Tapaz, near the city of Roxas, was spared the effects of flooding but suffered destruction from the 300km an hour winds.
The village is home to 600 people and most of the buildings have been completely flattened. Four of Vicky’s sisters still live in the Philippines.
“They are all okay. No one died or was injured but they are very lucky. I was talking to them this morning and they still have no electricity and it is very hard to get food. You have to travel almost three hours to the nearest city for food,” explains Vicky,
Authorities estimate more than 3,900 people were killed when Typhoon Haiyan, one of the largest ever recorded made landfall in the central Philippines and the sea surged ashore.
Officials have estimated that up to 10,000 people have died in Tacloban city. More than nine million people have been affected with many struggling to survive without access to food, shelter and clean drinking water.
Vicky says, “We are lucky where we live, it is on higher ground, so we didn’t get the flooding. In our village nobody died but in the next village there were some people who died. We were just lucky. All of the buildings have been damaged. My school was destroyed. Two of my sister’s houses were damaged.”
Vicky lives in Ennis and has worked at the Snack Shack café in the town centre since moving to Ireland in 2004. One of her sisters lives in Ennis, two sisters live in Shannon and another lives in Cork.
Vicky has been in constant contact with her family and friends by phone and social media.
Amid fears that further storms could cause further destruction, Vicky says she is concerned about her family’s safety.
“There might be more storms. It is bad over there and we are still very worried for them,” she added.
A food drive for victims of the storm is underway in Shannon. People in and around the town are being asked to leave non-perisahable food and non-prescription medication to the collection point at the Skycourt Shopping Centre.