“Typhoon Haiyan,” said writer and women’s advocate Ninotchka Rosca, “is a vivid illustration of what’s coming with climate change.”
She added: “It is incumbent for all of us to take full measure of its toll on human life. This is not just for those of Philippine ancestry. No race, no ethnicity can escape these changes, and we need to cooperate to make sure that survival won’t be only for the few with resources.”
Rosca (right) and Jollene Levid with a local community leader (center). Photo courtesy of AF3IRMWith the highest landfall speed ever recorded, Typhoon Haiyan (known in the Philippines as Yolanda) decimated the island of Leyte, as well as parts of Samar and Cebu islands. Estimates of fatalities range from 8,000 to 12,000, with 600,000 homeless and 11 million directly affected by the storm. Seven million trees, including entire coconut groves upon which the livelihood of thousands depended, were destroyed.
Along with AF3IRM National Chair Jollene Levid, Rosca visited Leyte, Cebu and Zamboanga this January. They went through villages which had been totally wiped out by the typhoon and where residents were desperately re-building on their own, while searching for missing relatives and friends. In the course of this needs-assessment mission, Rosca tracked down a rumor about a thousand still unburied bodies – something denied by authorities – and the two found them in the yard of a building near the San Juanico bridge.
Following reports of sexual assaults – also stringently denied by authority – in the typhoon areas, AF3IRM, in cooperation with the National Association of Asian and Pacific Islanders to End Sexual Violence and Exploitation (NAPIESVE), sent Rosca and Levid to the Philippines to conduct a needs-assessment analysis, focused on women and children.
“Trafficking, prostitution and child prostitution are much feared and much talked about,” noted Rosca wryly, “but about which not much is done.”
Both Levid and Rosca have been giving presentations on the typhoon to various groups. “We approach the issues comprehensively,” explained Rosca, “so that people leave with a sense of how to interface with the damaged communities.”
On Friday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Rutgers University’s Asian American Cultural Center, AF3IRM member Ninotchka Rosca will give a report on the aftermath of the super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). The Rutgers Association of Pilipino Students (RAPS) is hosting the event which is open to the public. The Center is at the Livingston Campus, 49 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854, and can be contacted at 848-445-8043.
Phase 2 of the AF3IRM/NAPIESVE Philippine mission will begin in second half of this year. It will focus on training people to establish safety zones for women and children, as well as ensure that their specific needs are among immediate relief goods.
Anyone who wishes to help, contribute or work with the mission can email nynj@af3irm.org. For direct cash donations, please access the AF3IRM project page at www.sponsorphilippines.org. — The FilAm
ADDIS ABABA: Africa has the fewest roads and cars of any region, and yet the largest ratio of vehicle deaths, caused by the usual suspects — unsafe habits, speeding and drinking — but also poor infrastructure, scant rescuers and old cars. As everywhere, speed, alcohol and not wearing a seat belt or helmet are among the main causes of death and injury, say experts. But in Africa, where there are 620 traffic deaths every day, these problems are compounded by bad roads, outdated vehicles, minimal prosecutions and a shortage of emergency services. A recent World Health Organization report found that Africa surpassed the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia — which recorded the most road deaths — with a record ratio of 19.5 people killed per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021. Home to only around four percent of the world’s automobiles, Africa accounted for 19 percent of road deaths last year. “What is worrying is the upward trend in Africa,” said Jean Todt, a former head of the Internati...
By Fr. Shay Cullen, Founder since 1974 The Republic of Ireland is known as the "land of a thousand welcomes." It has welcomed 19,846 Filipinos who are now permanent residents or Irish citizens, data from the country's Census 2022 showed. Ireland's population is small: 5.127 million. The nation has never completely recovered from the devastating famine of 1845, caused by the greed and inequality under British colonial rule that left millions of Irish in dire poverty and surviving on the potato, its staple crop. The infection of potatoes by blight led to that famine and the country's population starving. As many as a million Irish died of hunger and disease from 1845 to 1851. The British government ruled Ireland with an iron fist and without concern or compassion. It failed to provide sufficient food for thousands of starving people. The wealthy English landlords in Ireland continued to export grain and cattle to their country during the famine. There was no ch...
Russian forces now control 98.5% of Luhansk, 60% of Donetsk MOSCOW: Russian troops on Wednesday took charge of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Russia launched its full-scale assault in 2022. The advance of Moscow's forces, which control just under a fifth of Ukraine, has underlined Russia's vast superiority in men and materiel as Ukraine pleads for more weapons from the Western allies that have been supporting it. Ukraine's eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops and "preserve personnel and military equipment". The Russian defense ministry did not mention Vuhledar in its daily battlefield report. Russian Telegram channels, however, published video of troops waving the Russian tricolor flag over shattered buildings. The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era...
Comments