TIM eMagazine
TIMe
Magazine Vol.1 Issue 3
Through the support of hundreds of
individual donors, corporate allies, and
development partners, Bancas for the
Philippines was able to provide assistance
to Haiyan-hit coastal communities like
the town of New Washington in Aklan by
teaching them how to build their own
fibreglass boats. (Toni Munar / WWF)
T
he waves that once roared and ripped into the
coastal community of New Washington, Aklan are
calm today. Before daybreak, small-scale fishers
boldly cast their nets into the very waters they used
to fear.
New Washington is among the localities that
suffered the brunt of typhoon Haiyan, the strongest
tropical cyclone ever recorded. Haiyan claimed
7200 lives, displaced millions of families, and left
economic damage worth PHP 500 Billion. The
storm also destroyed the wooden bancas of about
146,700 small-scale fishers.
Erma Repedro and her family survived the
Category-5 storm but her husband continued
heading out to sea using his damaged boat – braving
unpredictable and sometimes turbulent waters.
“My husband had to make do with his old banca
so that he can continue feeding our family. There
were days when I feared he will no longer come back.
We have very little money to repair our boat’s holes,
so I always worried that his boat would sink,” she
said.
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