From coconut farms to call centres: the struggle to rebuild lives after Haiyan | World news | The GuardianFrom coconut farms to call centres: the struggle to rebuild lives after Haiyan | World news | The Guardian










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Typhoon Haiyan



From coconut farms to call centres: the struggle to rebuild lives after Haiyan









Typhoon that hit Philippines leaves population of Leyte province split between scratching out a living or moving to Manila for work

















Edgardo Sablay clears his ruined home near the coconut farm where he worked in central Philippines. Photograph: Aaron Favila/Associated Press



Oliver Teves, Associated Press in Tanauan


Friday 29 November 2013 10.46 EST







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As Typhoon Haiyan tore across the eastern Philippines, family coconut plantations were smashed like matchsticks and call centres that serve the world fell silent. The storm that killed thousands also wrecked livelihoods in the worst-hit region, a blow that will be felt long after the disaster fades from attention.
The workload of call and data centres has easily been diverted to other Philippine cities. Less simple is the choice faced by thousands of workers: uproot and separate from family or stay in Leyte province and wait perhaps a year for the jobs to return.
Tenant coconut farmers know they must clear flattened trees and replant. But it will be three years before the new trees are mature enough to bear fruit.
In Tanauan, 12 miles from the coastal city of Tacloban - inundated by a storm surge on 8 November - coconut farms are a tangle of uprooted trees. Farmers say even trees still standing will die because of damage to their cores.
"Those trees over there have been producing coconuts since before my father was born," said tenant farmer Mario Duma, gesturing at a 3-hectare (7.4-acre) plot where just a few dozen out of 500 coconut trees survived.
"If we get seedlings, we can plant again next year," said Duma, shirtless under the midday sun. "We will really go into hard times if the government will not support us."
The coconut palm is known in the Philippines as the "tree of life" because every part of it has a use. Fronds are used as roofing, husks as floor cleaner or charcoal, white flesh can be eaten or processed into oil and the sap makes wine. Flowering for harvest every three months and living for decades, coconut trees have long allowed millions of Filipinos to make a living.
But it's a harsh way of life. A harvest of 2,000 coconuts sells for 7,000 pesos (£100) and tenant farmers must share that with landowners. Many have sought to leave farming behind. Call centre work and other jobs in the outsourcing industry offer air-conditioned comfort and wages that are higher than average for white-collar work in the Philippines. Those opportunities were multiplying in Leyte as more outsourcing companies moved in. Then Haiyan came - levelling both towns and dreams.
At a call and data centre in Palo, 6 miles from Tacloban, chairs, desks and computers are soaked in water and caked with dirt.
The Expert Global Solutions building was not hit by Haiyan's storm surge but high winds peeled off iron sheet roofing as more than 500 people huddled inside, leaving only the steel frame skeleton and soaking everything below. No one died there but some employees lost family elsewhere.
Senior staff visiting from the capital, Manila, ordered the destruction of around1,000 damaged hard drives to protect confidential data of clients mostly based in the US. Power may be restored to the area in December, a crucial milestone for businesses that hope to rebuild.
"It's impossible to resume operations now because all the computers are damaged. There's no equipment," said quality supervisor RJ Ripalda.
Some employees have decided to take jobs with the company in Manila but not everyone can make that choice, including Ripalda who has two young children.
"Others have the option to relocate, but others will have to find other means to earn to buy milk for their children, rice," she said.
At Accudata, a billing services company nearby, five employees were seated around a table waiting for their mobiles to finish charging from a generator. They had just collected rice and other supplies from the provincial relief centre.
"It will take a year to repair our office," said Rosalie Alconaba, a supervisor. "I will just pray our office will be repaired soon."
At Accudata and its affiliate, CoreData, about 200 out of 1,000 employees have put their names down for transfer to Manila. As with other companies, those with families are reluctant to relocate despite having no job in Leyte. One employee who remained despite the devastation said: "Even the department stores of Tacloban were looted, so there is really nothing."
Edgardo Sablay also fears tough times. The 48-year-old has spent most of his life climbing coconut trees to collect sap from the palms' flowers for Tuba, a coconut sap wine. He can earn 700 pesos for collecting 36 litres a day.
"I have not gone to school, I only know how to make Tuba," he said. "I am not losing hope that there will still be trees that can survive and which I can climb to feed my family."



Topics



Typhoon Haiyan




Natural disasters and extreme weather




Philippines




Asia Pacific




Hurricanes








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