Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda

This is the welcome sign/arch when you enter and leave Capiz in between Dumarao and Passi

It's been almost a month since Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda hit the Philippines. Tacloban and other areas in Samar and Leyte were probably the most affected parts of the country. However, other provinces were badly hit too! One of which is Capiz, my home province.

During the typhoon, telecommunication lines and signals were cut and we had no electricity here in Iloilo. When the weather calmed down, mobile network signals were back and I immediately contacted my family in Roxas City. However, I cannot contact anyone. I was hoping that they just had empty batteries or still no signal. But I was worried though especially when I heard news over the internet about the situation in affected areas. Iloilo wasn't hit badly by the typhoon except the northern part. There were a number of casualties in those areas especially those near the coast.

I was only able to talk to my parents 2 days after the typhoon when they went to the city proper and able to receive a signal. After 2 days, I was finally relieved knowing they're safe. But our kitchen roof was destroyed and trees around the house were uprooted. Our neighbor's house was even entirely ravaged.

Our kitchen was fixed immediately though and our surroundings were cleared by the efforts of my family and our neighbors. But there's still no electricity at home until now and some say it might take 3-4 months to fix everything. Only a small part of Roxas City proper has electricity as of today.

My grandparents' home at Sigma, Capiz was also totally ruined by the typhoon and this made me really sad. Of course I'm glad that they're all safe in there. Their home wasn't too big and grand but it holds too many memories for our family. Me and my brother used to spend summer vacations there when we were kids. Family gatherings were also spent there most of the time. Here's what's left of my grandparents home as photographed by my uncle: