Yolanda survivors wait for fulfillment of promises three years after the super typhoon struck

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Three years after super typhoon Yolanda struck, survivors from a badly hit community in Tacloban City, who witnessed how ships destroyed lives and houses, are still dealing with unfulfilled promises. File photo of a grieving survivor.

TACLOBAN CITY, Nov. 7 — Three years after super typhoon Yolanda struck, survivors from a badly hit community in this city, who witnessed how ships destroyed lives and houses, are still dealing with unfulfilled promises.

Hyacinth Abuda, 22, of Anibong district still lives in a makeshift house with her husband and a child. Their family built a house near a shipwreck converted into a landmark.

Desperate Abuda laments their situation. She said they really want to transfer to a safer place, but permanent houses are not yet livable.

The Yolanda survivor related they did not get emergency shelter assistance being listed as recipients of permanent housing projects.

The storm surge caused by the the super typhoon swept the bodies which were never been found of their daughter and four relatives.

Three after Yolanda, Y yacinth were reduced to a hand-to-mouth daily life as her husband earns meager income from a barber shop.

A 47 year old neighbor and mother of four, Vicenta Segunda, 47, seconded the same sorry sentiment. To her. tt is still unclear when they will be moving to the resettlement site.

She relayed the information heard that there is no electricity and stable water supply in relocation sites. She is worried of what to do for a living. She is an assistant to the village secretary.

These two mothers and their families did everything to survive when Yolanda unleashed its wrath in this city on Nov. 8, 2013. They stepped on anything and clung unto something for dear life.

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Ships grounded on the shoreline of Tacloban City. File photo.

Residents of Anibong district are among the 14,000 families in the city who will be moved to the northern relocation sites, away from danger zones.

The city government admitted that lack of water and other needed facilities for new townships derail the pace of transferring families.

Anibong district is a coastal community near the city’s port. It is the village where 10 ships ran aground, killing several people and destroying houses in the process.

The actual bow of the M/V Eva Jocelyn, a cargo ship, was made into a memorial marker. This memorial is in honor of the residents who died when cargo vessels was swept ashore by wall of sea water. (PNA / Jushua Marga & Yazmin Ellen Espina)

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