DOHA: A large number of Qatar-based Filipinos hailing from the typhoon-affected areas are still left desperate as they are not able to contact their relatives back home.
A prominent Filipina community leader said she was able to eventually contact her sister after five days of the tragedy yesterday.
All communications networks in the region have collapsed, and since there is no electricity, people have not been able to charge their mobile phone handsets.
“Luckily, one of our neighbours has a generator set so my relative could charge her mobile phone there, and that’s how I was able to speak with her today (yesterday),” said Daisy Tingzon.
A lawyer by profession, Tingzon hails from the Leyte province—that along with the neighboring Samar—took the most of brunt of Friday’s devastating typhoon.
“My siblings and mother are safe. They have taken shelter in a neighbour’s two-storey house,” she said. Tingzon told this newspaper that her husband also comes from the typhoon-affected areas and has been waiting for the roads there to become negotiable so he could fly home.
Since he has a car he would like to drive once he is there, she said.
“He will be travelling in a week or so to be there with his relatives so he could help them in their rehabilitation effort.” Most houses are either destroyed or partially or severely damaged.
People have money in their bank accounts but life remains paralysed. There is no electricity so ATMs are not working. There are food and water shortages. Essentials aren’t available.
Incidentally, Tingzon heads a community organisation here of compatriots hailing from Leyte, Samar and Biliran (Leysambil) in the affected Visayas region.
She said it was hard to guess exactly how many fellow Filipinos from the affected region are based in Qatar. “We have 200 members in our organisation.”
Stories of how a number of Qatar-based Filipinos hailing from the region are still desperate for information on their missing relatives back home, are abound.
One Filipino was on annual vacation in his home town in Visayas and returned only on Friday, the day the devastating typhoon hit. Now, to his horror many members of her family are missing, so he needs to travel home looking for them.
A prominent community elder who didn’t want his name in print told this newspaper that yesterday he got a call from this compatriot for help. “We are thinking of waging a separate campaign within our community organisations to collect cash donations to help such compatriots,” he said.
Moreover, most homes in the typhoon-ravaged areas are left either fully destroyed and rendered inhabitable, or severely or partially damaged needing repair.
This means that fellow nationals based here and affected by the tragic calamity back home must organise funds for the rebuilding and repair effort as well.
The Peninsula
