Typhoon Haiyan: Victims Flee Tacloban

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent on Leyte Island, Philippines

With nothing but the clothes on their backs, hundreds of typhoon victims are making a desperate bid to escape Tacloban.

People are trying to escape the devastation of Tacloban

The ferry terminal in Ormoc City is full of lost Filipinos. They have nowhere to go. No plan, no home, no job, nothing.

All they have left are the few belongings they carry: small damp rucksacks, plastic bags, umbrellas. Some have only what they are wearing.

And they are supposed to be the lucky ones - the survivors of this cruel swipe of nature.

Each of them has their own story. Here is just one.

Julio Gatela is 32. He had a computer shop in Tacloban until his city became the place most devastated by the typhoon.

We meet him in the vast queue for one of the ferries away from here.

Julio lost everything when the typhoon hit

The first thing we discover is that he has eaten just a few biscuits for five days.

There is food in this particular town, but he hasn't the money to buy any. He has just enough for the ferry and no more.

He shows us, pulling out an old damp sack from his bag. It is full of coins he managed to collect from the rubble of his home. The rest of his savings were notes - paper money which would never have survived so much water.

This is a not a well-off part of the Philippines. There are banks but not everyone has an account. Julio doesn't. He saved his earnings at home.

Our conversation is heartbreaking. Julio doesn't know what he'll do.

Many people have been left with just the clothes on their backs

"I don't have nothing else to do. I just want some rest. It's tragic out there (in Tacloban) so I have to calm myself and try to forget everything terrible that happened to us."

He is visibly depressed. I think he's probably emotionally broken. His face twitches as he talks to us.

"We don't know where else to go. What happened and why to us is a mystery for us."

He recalls the moment the storm hit.

"It was really terrible. Thundering strong winds. I cannot describe how strong it is. Different from every typhoon I have ever seen before.

"My roof was trembling. I put my life jacket on and I just waited. No one really knew what was going to happen. We have never seen big waves like this."

Many are trying to get to the neighbouring island of Cebu

With any luck, and with the coins he has salvaged, he will be on a ferry soon.

It will take him to the neighbouring island of Cebu where he hopes he will find the power to get him back on track.

"I don't know." he says. "I will just start at the beginning again."

In disasters like this, it's natural to think about the children, the mothers, the elderly. The reality is that everyone is suffering.

In fact, the children are probably the most resilient. I can see a few running around now, playing in the stifling sun which breaks the torrential rain. They don't really understand the chaos around them.

As I watch the kids playing, Julio recalls the friends and family he has lost.

"My uncle and many friends. And everything is destroyed. Everything."

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