Climate Migration: Filipino families to flee amid typhoons
Nearly a decade after one of the country's deadliest disasters, families in the Philippines are still adjusting to their new reality
TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) — After Typhoon Haiyan's towering waves flattened scores of Philippines villages, Jeremy Garing spent days helping with recovery from the historic storm that left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and inflicted billions of dollars in damage.
“I keep helping other people, but then at the end, you find out that all of your family is gone,” Garing said, recalling those terrible times in 2013. “It’s so painful.”
He and his wife Hyancinth Charm Garing lost seven relatives to the typhoon, including parents, siblings and their 1-year-old daughter. Holding up a cell phone photo of her smiling daughter Hywin, the 28-year-old mother still finds it hard to believe she is gone.
Part of the wave of 5 million people displaced by the typhoon, the couple now lives in an inland community about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the coast in a community that was created by the government in response to the death and devastation of Haiyan.
