The Blue Brigades: Four days journey into the heart of Haiyan — About Plan — Plan InternationalThe Blue Brigades: Four days journey into the heart of Haiyan — About Plan — Plan International
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              The Blue Brigades: Four days journey into the heart of Haiyan
           
      




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The Blue Brigades: Four days journey into the heart of Haiyan


            Posted by
            Carin van der Hor, Plan Philippines Country Director
        



Carin wearing Plan's 'blue brigade' shirt aboard a busy flight to Manila

28 November 2013: When Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) hit the Philippines, almost all of Plan International's areas were hit.
We were well prepared. We had worked with communities to stockpile hygiene kits, emergency shelter materials and clean water kits.
Yet, the magnitude of the super typhoon and the devastating effect of the storm surges were much bigger than anyone could have imagined.
I have been asked why it is so difficult to deliver aid to the hardest hit areas. The answer is not simple. The Philippines is an archipelago. There are many small islands, many remote areas. Some are a day's walk or more from the nearest town.
And then there's the sheer magnitude of Yolanda. Roads were washed out and bridges were destroyed. It's difficult just delivering a couple of hundred jerry cans to a community.
Travelling with the brigade
Let me take you on a journey that I just completed to meet with my emergency response teams. We call them the Blue Brigades because of the bright blue Plan International shirts we all wear.
I flew from Manila to Cebu, very early in the morning. No surprise that our flight was delayed. With huge amounts of aid flying into Cebu, flights are unpredictable.
Then comes a ferry ride to Ormoc, in Leyte.
Ormoc was hit hard by the typhoon. Now people are on the ferry to find relatives and to bring food and relief. So the ferry schedule is completely unreliable.
We find a vehicle waiting for us. We're lucky: If you do not have a vehicle in Ormoc, you must rely on little bike carts because fuel is scarce. This is what our team found when they arrived in Ormoc on the Saturday morning after the typhoon. They were the first team to arrive there. They found total devastation. They had to walk for hours and finally had to ask for help to find a safe place to stay for the night.
Logistics bottlenecks
The biggest bottlenecks are all related to logistics: it's difficult to find fuel, to find trucks and to get goods on the ferry.
We headed south to Baybay, where I reached one of our teams.
The entire province is out of electricity. We depend on mobile phones, laptops and satellite phones to communicate. We need electricity.
The owner of our hostel has agreed to turn on a generator for 5 hours in the evening. So as night falls, there is a dash to recharge all our laptops and phones. If the team is lucky, they can find 15 minutes to have a shower - it's the only time there is any hot water.
Dinner is hastily prepared - rice and fish. The atmosphere is great, everything is shared and people encourage each other to finish the fish: we cannot refrigerate any left overs!
Incredible stories
The next morning we go to Tacloban.
Anybody going to Tacloban needs to be self sufficient. Bring your own water, food, bedding and anything else you need. We are lucky, because we have an operational office in Tacloban, although there is no water and electricity. We sleep on the floor.
From Tacloban we move on to Catbalogan, where we also have an office. Fortunately, food is available and the office has a generator.
I hear incredible stories of how people managed to reunite with their families when there was no functioning transport. One person I spoke to walked for 6 hours to find his children. His kids had applied all the disaster risk management techniques he had taught them. His son saved his sister: a storm surge forced them to swim for their lives.
Staff solidarity
All our staff are determined to assist communities in the Visayas, an area where Plan International has worked for decades.
There is a strong feeling of solidarity. I urge them to take care of themselves and of each other.We take staff care seriously and have sent in teams of counsellors and psychologists to work with the teams who are responding. It is important that they are debriefed and that we look for signs of stress.
The staff poked fun at me, because an insect bite the previous night left me with a swollen eye. I don't care, it's great to hear their laughter.
We say goodbye and move on to Calbayog. From Calbayog, we must travel by land, sea and air to make it back to Manila. There are flights from Calbayog - but no seats for 9 days.
We journey for more than 2 hours to Allen, where we take a ferry to Matnog. There's no schedule. We're just hoping it leaves in the next 3 hours. From there, we have another car journey of about 3 hours to Legazpi. We arrive too late for the last flight to Manila. We take the first flight out the next morning.
What would have once taken a day or 2 has taken us 4 full days.
Respect
But it was worth it: to meet with my teams and to see, feel and experience firsthand what it is to be without communications, to fear that your phone battery will run out soon with no way of recharging, to take small sips of water because you don't know when the next bottle will be available and to be hungry, hot, tired and frustrated.
It makes me appreciate those small luxuries we have and so easily forget. It also means I appreciate our Blue Brigades even more.
To them I say: Respect.
Support the emergency response: Donate to the appeal now
Read more about Plan’s response to Typhoon Haiyan




Nov 28, 2013 12:40 PM




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Plan's Typhoon Haiyan response
Why aid workers face challenges crossing the Philippines







                
                 
              




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