We try to be strong: Yolanda survivors on starting over

MANILA, Philippines — A decade after Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit the Visayas and left more than 7,000 people dead or missing, survivors are preparing to commemorate the disaster.

Many of them lost partners, children, siblings, parents and friends in one of the most powerful storms on record.

Ahead of the 10th anniversary of Yolanda, AFP spoke to three people about how they rebuilt their lives after the tragedy.

Juvilyn Tanega still keeps the Boy Scouts ID card that belonged to her 10-year-old son, Stephen, in a jewelry box.

She found the laminated card on a tree in the days after huge storm surges crashed over the family’s jeepney in Tacloban City.

The family had failed to heed warnings to evacuate and when they finally decided to flee, the jeepney wouldn’t start.

Tanega recalls holding Stephen’s hand as they struggled to stay afloat in the onslaught of seawater.

“He was the last one with me as we fought against the waves,” said Tanega, 40.

“I told him ‘hang on tight, son, we will survive this.’ But another wave separated us and I never saw him again.”

Tanega lost her six children, husband, mother, one sister, three nieces and nephews, her best friend, her home and nearly all her possessions in the storm.

The remains of Stephen and two of her other children were never found.

Six months after the disaster Tanega met Joel Aradana, whose wife and two children were killed in the storm.

In their shared grief, they found companionship and had two children – now six and eight – before the relationship ended.

“I am really thankful that he gave me children,” Tanega said, laughing.

“I really wanted another chance to have children before I grew old, to give me enough happiness to be able to recover.”

After a stint working as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia, Tanega returned to the Philippines to live in a house on a relocation site built for survivors of Yolanda.

Her modest dwelling has running water, a television and tiled floors. From there, Tanega runs a small store selling rice, canned food and instant noodles.

Despite the joy of watching her two children grow up, Tanega said the pain of losing her first family “never really went away.”

“The feeling of loss,