Human Stories

In Leha-Leha, people are getting back on their feet – children are going back to school, the women are at home tying bundles of seaweed for planting, while the men are out at sea collecting seaweed.

It has been two years since Typhoon Pablo, but all Plutarco has been able to build since his family moved is a makeshift house from scraps and tattered plastic sheets.

At 33, Sattolnina Abba has lost count of how many times she’s been forced to flee fighting between government troops and armed groups in the Mindanao region.

In the village of Mas-in, nestled among sugarcane and pineapple plantations, one woman can only think of building what she has been longing for since birth – her identity.

TANAUAN, Philippines – After Typhoon Haiyan cut a path of destruction across Central Philippines, Gil Lopez was among the hordes of survivors waiting in line for the first flight out of the devastated region. Three months later, he is happy to be back. A long bus ride brought Gil, 49, […]

ISABEL, Philippines – At 85, Jahina Lugasan does not know where home is. Her life has been marked by a series of displacement driven by conflict and natural disasters. And unless something is done, her grandchildren could inherit this unfortunate legacy. Jahina and her husband are from the indigenous Badjao […]

SALVACION, Philippines – For most Filipinos, families are the fabric of life. On the day Typhoon Haiyan swept through the Visayas region of Eastern Philippines, Elma Marcha felt her world unravel as she was forced to choose between saving her parents and her daughter. In the early morning of November […]

TACLOBAN, Philippines – For 31 days, a rusting dredging ship tossed by Typhoon Haiyan 100 meters inland into a coastal shanty town was home for seven-month-pregnant Rosita Pica and her family. Along with 38 other families, they shared cramped spaces inside the vessel that was also home to many dead […]

TACLOBAN, Philippines – An officer who says a seven-year-old boy saved him from Typhoon Haiyan is back directing services for military humanitarian airlift flights for survivors. Lt. Col. Fermin Carangan says he missed the first two weeks of intense activity after the storm made landfall on November 8, demolished his […]

TACLOBAN, Philippines – It’s hard to move on when you’re surrounded by death. Every day the Saballa brothers sit and stare at the ruins of what was once their proud neighborhood by the sea. They watch people pick at what’s left – wooden beams and iron sheets from collapsed homes, […]