By Hailey Murphy
On the fourth anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan, the Filipino American Student Association held a vigil in remembrance of the those who lost their life.
Known as Yolanda in the Philippines,Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest storms in recorded history, as well as the strongest cyclone to ever hit the Philippines.
The storm killed 6,300 people, displaced over 1 million households and caused damage that’s still visible today. There are still 1,000 people who are not accounted for.
FASA sought to not only remember those who lost their life, but also to provide relief for those who are still recovering from the storm today.
Association representative, and AS VP for Academic Affairs Hunter Eider gave a presentation detailing those affected by the storm, as well as the inability to rehabilitate the country.
Typhoon Haiyan started forming on November 2, 2013 in Micronesia, 15 miles east of the Philippines. The storm made landfall on November 8 in the Eastern Visayas region. It had just reached its peak intensity.
The storm moved through the path of 14.1 million people living in Samar and Leyte. Many of these people were living below the poverty line in unstable structures.
After the storm had passed, it was time to rebuild. In the month after the storm, $662.9 million were raised for the relief effort.
However, only $14.3 million of those funds are accounted for. There’s no indication of where the rest of the funds have gone.
Additionally, the Philippine government promised to build 250,000 new houses for those who affected. By 2016, three years later, only 25,000 had been built.
FASA then discussed ways in which they can provide relief for those who are still recovering. They discussed donating through grassroots organizations such as the Kabataan Alliance, a national alliance of Filipino youth. They also contemplated putting together Balikbayan Boxes filled with supplies, or reaching out to the Bellingham community for donations.
Then FASA went outside to begin their vigil. First, Vice President Hannah Pascual lit her candle. Then she passed the flame on to the rest of the group.
“I felt very solemn,” Pascual said. “[And] very reflective of just how lucky my family is and how lucky I am to be here. Because my family wasn’t as impacted as other people I know, whose families were lost or whose families are still struggling as of now. So very grateful, very solemn, very reflective.”
Eider agreed.
“When we were lighting the candles it felt like a real show of unity and solidarity,” said Eider. “[I saw] the fact that they showed up for the vigil as an act of remembering the lives, even though we don’t have names for all them. It made me feel really special.”
Kamay by Filipina singer Yeng Constantino. The title means “holding hands.” It represented the solidarity between the students and the victims back in the Philippines. Students sang to show their support of those who are su ering from the typhoon.
After the song, students paid their respects with two minutes of silence.
To close out the vigil, FASA sang “Lean on Me”. It’s message was the same as the last: despite the miles between them, FASA is standing in solidarity with the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.
While FASA couldn’t take concrete action tonight, the very act of educating people is an act of resistance against those withholding relief from the typhoon victims. The next step will be to employ the strategies discussed.
Throughout the night, Eider continued to reiterate the quote: No rest for the weary so we keep on marching.
“It’s important to remember that people who are affected by these national disasters, even though no one necessarily caused them and they just happen at random,” said Eider. “These people are neglected, and these people are neglected for a reason… It’s important to do these folks justice for those who have passed and those lives that are still struggling on.”