It has been a week since Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda slammed into the Philippines, but conditions in hard-hit Tacloban City are still nightmarish. NBC Los Angeles reporter Gadi Schwartz tweeted some of the awful things he is seeing in the devastated city:
Met a mother living in small wrecked city bus w/ 8 kids. No way to support them. Home swept away. Husband killed in Typhoon #Tacloban
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Watched her children duck under a small fence and play… older brother teaching young toddler how to ride a bike… both tires flat
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Watched kids younger than 10 point out at 2 floating bodies in the sea. 1 corpses was of a pregnant mother #Tacloban
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Today we watched OMI teams open up body bags after days of decomposition 4 Identification. The smell was inescapable. #Tacloban
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Chris and I bought our first pack of cigarettes. We have now started smoking to try & deaden stench in our nose & our mouth
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
At playground 4 orphans we met a boy named Jason sleeping on cardboard. He survived Yolanda by clinging 2 floating can of thinner #Tacloban
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Both of Jason's parents died in the storm. He was alone and has no one… and the orphanage nearby has relocated since the storm.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
We gave him some food, some water & 1000 pesos….. and left… and now I can't sleep.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Jason had two different colored sandals on. He dragged his cardboard off with importance… It was his only possesion.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Throughout city we see tattered signs everwhere w/ motto "I Love Tacloban." Before Yolanda it was a tourisim campaign… now, I don't know.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Man tells me mass grave in nearby town held 500 bodies. Only 2 ID'd as locals- the rest thought 2 have been washed in from across the bay.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Visited 2 hospitals where equiptemnt & medicine r gone. Many staff homeless w/ family killed. How can 1 help when they've lost everything?
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
We ride around & hear our drivers complain about Marco's wifes shoes. She was once the rose of #Tacloban – Now she lives in Hawaii
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Our drivers talk of double dead meat.. they say don't buy from street butchers. Then one says… #Tacloban has become nightmare city.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
We pass long line of people crouching on the ground. A local Bangaray has rigged up a line of extention cords 4 people 2 charge cell phones
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
I know aid is here and more is coming… But I have yet to see anything that can sustain people for more than a few days.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
They need entire clean water systems… not bodies in the gutters.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
They need food and more than a few bags of rice… They need a way of life and commerce.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
They need houses with 4 walls, Not shelters that they have built out of scrap tin near the ruins of their old homes.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Please make the important personal decision to give to the people of the Philippines. Do your research. Think about how you want to help.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
and know that ANY help for the victims of #Yolanda is more than they currently have. #Tacloban #Philippines #Haiyan
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Our generator has been turned off for the night. Powering down to save battery for tomorrow. I hope to share pictures soon. Please help.
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) November 16, 2013
Related:
Heartbreaking: Powerful images of children in typhoon-devastated Philippines [photos]
Davao City Mayor orders Haiyan relief team to shoot looters
Anarchy in Tacloban City: Not far from dead bodies, looters smile and wave at cameras
Rampant looting in Tacloban City in aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan
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