Tropical Storm Basyang "Kajiki" hits Philippines

Last night we experienced first hand a category 2 tropical storm . "Basyang" came out of the Philippine Sea and crossed thankfully, well below Tacloban. Early in the day during our Tanauan clinic (a suburb of Tacloban) the heavy clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped by 5 degrees, and it began to rain. By evening it was all over the local and national news in the Philippines. The tent city near Tanauan was evacuated and by 8pm the driving rain was coming sideways.  Many of our team decided not to leave the hotel for dinner, as the anxiety on the faces of the locals was palpable.  Businesses that were open shuttered early and few people ventured out of doors. Coming back to the hotel after dinner in the dark the winds were rising to 50 km/hour swinging signs and overhead wires,  it was an eerie wet walk from a few blocks away.   The rain pounded like a beating drum, incessantly on the corrugated roofs of the buildings around the hotel throughout the night. By morning the rain had stopped, the winds were gone and the sun was shining bright. When we reached the Tanauan clinic we found to our surprise that the night before the Municipal Hall had been transformed into one of the evacuation centres for the Tent city.   About 50 families spent the night on the floor of our makeshift eye clinic expecting the worst to hit them again.  A post traumatic stress response to Haiyan.

Derrick