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                        Share This Story!Let friends in your social network know what you are reading aboutFacebookEmailTwitterGoogle+LinkedInPinterestSadness, smiles as Filipinos remember typhoonThe Philippines will mark one year since Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons to make landfall, hit Tacloban and killed more than 7,000 people.Post to FacebookSadness, smiles as Filipinos remember typhoon 

 The Philippines will mark one year since Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons to make landfall, hit Tacloban and killed more than 7,000 people.  

 Check out this story on USATODAY.com: http://usat.ly/1tUNba4
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                        Join the Nation's ConversationTo find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQsSadness, smiles as Filipinos remember typhoon Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY 8:40 p.m. EST November 6, 2014With solemn ceremonies, and fun events too, survivors mark one year since a deadly typhoon hit the Philippines.Joseph Morano, 61, clears the grass on a mass grave for 2,300 people at the Holy Cross Memorial Park in Tacloban in the Philippines. The bodies, mostly unidentified, were buried here after super Typhoon Haiyan hit this city Nov. 8, 2013.(Photo: Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY)
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        COMMENTEMAILMORETACLOBAN, Philippines — Almost 2,300 people were buried in a mass grave at Holy Cross Memorial Park after super Typhoon Haiyan hit a year ago. Joseph Morano counts three relatives buried here."We were scared at first, but we are used to it now," said Morano, 61, after spending several days clearing the thick grass to mark the first anniversary of the typhoon on Saturday.  "I was lucky to keep my job and my life," he said of the overwhelming disaster that left at least 7,300 people dead or missing and displaced millions of others.The storm, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the strongest ever recorded and the deadliest Philippine typhoon in modern history.Saturday's remembrances of the devastation will include a Mass to bless the dead, a city walk to unite Tacloban residents and a candlelight memorial along miles of battered coastline.This is the Philippines, a poor yet resilient nation bursting with a zest for life. So the commemorations will also include a fun run, rock concert and a "paddle out" into the very bay that swamped Tacloban."Party like it never happened, remember because it did" is the slogan for a charity dance concert selling T-shirts that read, "Eat, Pray, Loot," a joking reference to the memoir Eat, Pray, Love — and the measures residents took to stay alive."Eat, Pray, Loot."  A group of survivors designed T-shirts to sell at a fundraising dance concert Friday, the eve of the first anniversary of Super Typhoon Haiyan. The concert was canceled Wednesday after an online backlash against the joking slogan, but organizers say sales will still benefit educational scholarships for survivors. (Photo: Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY)Tacloban, a city that became a byword for horror when its streets were strewn with decomposing bodies, has recovered some sense of normalcy. Last month, there were Halloween parties, and McDonald's reopened to long lines.At the Robinsons Place mall, looted after the typhoon, firefighter Carol Loreche enjoyed a birthday dinner with friends last week. "We are already moving on," said Loreche, 32, who expects a full recovery will take five years. "We have jobs, we have houses, but others are still suffering in the devastated areas."Only 100 of the 14,500 permanent homes that were promised have been built, leaving thousands of people  in tents and crowded bunkhouses."I don't know how these families make it work to survive, but they don't complain about the situation and still have smiles on their faces," said Elsa Thomasma, a Michigan native and Tacloban resident.Thomasma, 25, helps the non-profit group Volunteer for the Visayans, which has built homes for survivors and organized Friday's dance concert. Her Filipino colleagues designed the T-shirts to raise funds for educational scholarships."The city has been revived," she said. "We want to remind people they can be happy they are alive."Regional tourism director Karina Rosa Tiopes said visitors can take "Ground Zero" tours to meet residents. "This can impart important lessons in life, and it has a two-way benefit, as it's part of our healing," Tiopes said. The massive destruction from the typhoon "taught us to be less materialistic and the importance of relationships."Authorities hope to encourage more visitors  with the slogan "Bring back the fun after Haiyan."  Even if the ships that washed ashore are all removed, the city may erect a memorial boulevard "to celebrate our second life," Tiopes said.In Tanauan, a hard-hit town south of Tacloban, Mayor Pel Tecson is renovating the public plaza where 600 people lie in a mass grave. A memorial wall will list names, but a controversial plan calls for covering the makeshift cemetery with a grass-and-concrete park. "We need to rehabilitate the area, so people feel comfortable and don't feel scared of it," Tecson said.Two hundred bodies lie in a grave at a traffic intersection, where sculptor Kublai Millan is crafting a large monument. "It shows us rising up as a people and people looking toward the future," the mayor explained.Some  struggle to move on. Emmarvin Ripalda, 21, lights candles daily and weeps at the headstone erected for nine family members, including his father and four siblings, who drowned in the storm surge's powerful waves."I can't accept the situation; it was all better before," said Ripalda, a laborer, as his mother came over to comfort him."I get strength from our surviving family," his mother, Emma, said. "It's too painful, but I have no choice but to accept what happened." They will pray for the dead at the Mass on Saturday and appreciate their luck at moving into a permanent new home.At Palo Cathedral, near Tanauan in the Philippines, workers install headstones beside a mass grave of victims of super Typhoon Haiyan, which left at least 7,300 people dead or missing and displaced millions. (Photo: Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY)Others look beyond the anniversary to Pope Francis' much-awaited visit in January to this deeply Catholic nation. At Palo Cathedral, near Tanauan, where the pope is likely to visit, a headstone was installed last week near a mass grave. The marker reads, "Unknown men, unknown women, unknown children."The pope's visit "is a blessing and the ultimate reward for us here after that devastation," said Maria Balen, 73, a retired government employee. "I am a survivor. We are happy and hospitable people. We can cope with any disaster."
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