The Wrath of Yolanda Philippines

Homeless, helpless, impoverished.

     This has become the lowly lot of some two-hundred sixteen (216) ”balangon” banana growers and their families and kin in northern Panay island, particularly in the towns of Carles, Balasan, and San Dionisio in Iloilo province, who have been rendered without habitable shelter and sufficient food to survive the wrath brought about by super typhoon “Yolanda” (with international name “Haiyan”) which lashed out the eastern and western sections of the Philippines, on November 8, 2013.

     Aside from human deaths [Carles – 38 dead, San Dionisio  -  eight (8) dead, Balasan – seven (7) dead], and scores of others injured or still missing, the almost unexplainable storm surge that battered the northern Panay areas at around two o’clock in the afternoon on that fateful day likewise caused a monstrous 15-foot floodwaters spanning some two (2) kilometers in length, which resultantly, also heavily destroyed farm lots; damaged standing crops including fully-grown “balangon” banana plantations and products of the growers; bogged down electricity supply which grips their temporary shanties in darkness as electricity could not be restored in few months; destroyed livestock and poultry products; and uprooted some 100 mango trees, among its other devastating ill-effects.

     On top of all these, though, is the actual and potential loss of income among the “balangon” banana growers, particularly in Brgy. Suha in San Dionisio (37 growers, one farmers association, two haulers), Brgy. Cabilao Pequeño in