PHILIPPINES / BOPHA RECOVERY

In the Philippines, children affected by Typhoon Bopha are given support to recover from the devastation. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:30
• Production Date: 3 January 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF; RECONSTRUCTION
• Geographic Subject: PHILIPPINES
• MAMS Id: U130103d

Description

STORY: PHILIPPINES / BOPHA RECOVERY
TRT: 3.30
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / TAGALOG / VISAYA / NATS

DATELINE: 19 DECEMBER 2012, MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES

Shotlist

1. Various shots, destruction homes/villages
2. Pan right, bananas/coconut trees destroyed/fallen
3. Various shots, villagers rebuilding homes
4. Various shots, family with four children in new bataan gymnasium
5. SOUNDBITE (Tagalog) Benita Baucan, Mother:
“We were at home when the storm happened. It was 6am and our house fell down. We stayed at our neighbours; we don?t have a house anymore that’s why we’re here in the gym.”
5. Pan left, gymnasium with leaking roof
6. Various shots, children looking sad/distant in destruction
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rohannie Baraguir, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist:
“Forty-two percent of the affected population in this region are children so most of them are under profound stress; they don?t even know where they can find their family members because some of them lost their parents, lost their siblings, lost their schools as an effect of the Typhoon Pablo.”
8. Wide shot, Child Friendly Space sign
9. Various shots, children in sessions doing different activities
10. Various shots, children showing drawings and then flying paper planes
11. Med shot, Esther Samonte, crying, and her daughter Christy
12. Tracking shot, destruction
13. SOUNDBITE (Visaya) Esther Samonte, 42, from Poblacion, New Bataan:
“Because of the panic and confusion during the typhoon, we were separated and our neighbours said that she was swept away by the floods. The neighbours were the ones who rescued her.”
14. Med shot, Christy listening/face in hands
15. SOUNDBITE (Visaya) Christy, Girl:
“I am happy that I am now in school, I like some of the kids.”
16. Pan right, Christmas decorations
17. Various shots, children smiling/laughing

Storyline

Weeks after Typhoon Bopha stormed across the southern Philippine island of Mindanao last month, residents of villages and towns all over Compostela Valley are still coming to terms with the destruction of their homes and livelihoods.

Typhoon Bopha, known locally as Pablo, cut across the southern Philippines between 4 and 7 December, triggering flash floods and landslides. It was the strongest typhoon to hit the area in decades.

The storm killed more than 1,000 people, and, as of 18 December, had left 26,000 people in evacuation centres and 960,000 people living in the ruins of their homes, open areas or living with host communities.

With 947 million dollars worth of damage to crops including banana plants and coconut trees, families in these rural farming communities also had their sources of income wiped out overnight.

Benita Baucan escaped the wrath of the storm with her husband and four children, seeking shelter at the local gymnasium with another fifty families. Her home has been totally destroyed and her husband, a farmer, has no livelihood.

SOUNDBITE (Tagalog) Benita Baucan, Mother:
“We were at home when the storm happened. It was 6am and our house fell down. We stayed at our neighbours; we don?t have a house anymore that?s why we?re here in the gym.”

For children the shock of fleeing their homes, losing their belongings or even family members can have long lasting impact, especially with prolonged displacement and if they aren’t helped to process and recover from it.

SOUNDBITE (English) Rohannie Baraguir , UNICEF Child Protection Specialist
“Forty-two percent of the affected population in this region are children so most of them are under profound stress; they don’t even know where they can find their family members because some of them lost their parents, lost their siblings, lost their schools as an effect of the Typhoon Pablo.”

In order to help children recover, UNICEF, with its partners, has begun to set up child friendly spaces and support psychosocial services, where children have a chance to sing, play, draw and adjust to their new realities.

In Compostela town the children tell their stories through drawings and then release them as a way of reducing the fear and stress of the past weeks.

Esther Samonte lost her husband six months ago in a motorbike accident. When the waters swept her daughter Christy away, she thought she had lost her too.

SOUNDBITE (Visaya) Esther Samonte, 42, from Poblacion, New Bataan:
“Because of the panic and confusion during the typhoon, we were separated and our neighbours said that she was swept away by the floods. The neighbours were the ones who rescued her.”

Christy has been attending sessions in the few surviving classrooms of the New Bataan elementary school.

SOUNDBITE (Visaya) Christy, Girl:
“I am happy that I am now in school, I like some of the kids.”

While Christmas didn’t go as planned this year for these residents of Compostela Valley, with the help of the Philippine government, UNICEF and partners they are finding ways to move on and rebuild their lives again.