Homeless and hungry at Christmas, typhoon survivors struggle to rebuild

“We always celebrated Christmas, but for now, it’s too hard,” the 27-year-old father of one said, as he sat among rubble in the typhoon-hit city of Surigao, at the northeastern tip of Mindanao in the Philippines. Broken wood, scraps of metal, and plastic waste line the shore, where an exhausted stray dog sleeps. The stench of waste and dead fish engulf the air.More than a week after Super Typhoon Rai — known locally as Odette — slammed into the Philippines, Lacia has given up trying to salvage whatever is left of his home. Not a single house stands anymore in his village on nearby Dinagat Island. “Everything was gone, including my house,” Lacia said. “The roof, and any wood that we built with, was gone.” “I told my husband to get out of here because we might die here,” she said. “My grandchildren had to crawl on the roads because the wind was so strong.”The roof of Sapid’s home is completely destroyed. With nowhere to go and no money for now, the family have no choice but to sleep in their exposed home — whatever is left of it. “Aside from thinking about what we were going to prioritize in the repair, we are also thinking about how we can get our food,” she said. “We have not received any help yet. We are just waiting for someone to help us.” A long road to recoveryLacia, from Dinagat Island, will relocate with his wife and child to Surigao. It is safer there, he said. “My neighbors are no longer (in Dinagat). Most of them have left because there is nothing left in our neighborhood,” he said. All he has left to his name are some matchsticks, a box of rice, dried fish, and canned goods. “In my family, we really need help so we can rise again and return to our livelihood,” Lacia said. “Odette really was a Super Typhoon,” he said. “We lost our home, damaged by the force of the wind brought by the storm. We did everything, but it still was not enough.”