SitiWanMahani - Feri dari Cebu City ke Pulau Leyte adalah
penuh dengan orang yang pulang ke rumah, dengan harapan orang yang tersayang
telah terlepas. Gerardo Ramon, 46, seperti yang lain di atas kapal, bukan
sahaja menyampaikan bekalan ke taufan yang melanda Tacloban. Beliau telah
memeriksa bahawa isteri dan anak-anaknya masih hidup kah.
“Selama 2 hari, saya tidur mungkin 2 jam
sahaja, berfikir tentang apa yang berlaku, apa yang berlaku kepada keluarga
saya, saudara-mara saya dan semua di bandar Tacloban dan Leyte juga,” katanya.
Pada akhir hari perjalanan 3 orang dari Arab Saudi di mana beliau adalah
seorang pekerja pembinaan, Ramon mendapati bandar itu musnah.
Tetapi bagaimana pula dengan keluarganya?
Tanda-tanda pertama di rumah tidak menjanjikan. “Tidak ada bumbung lagi,” kata
beliau, sebagai bergerak lebih dekat. Tetapi, satu demi satu, 3 anak lelaki
Ramon dan 2 orang anak perempuan muncul, diikuti oleh isterinya. Perjumpaan
adalah emosi untuk mereka semua.
Hoping for a miracle: one man's
search for his family
in storm-hit Philippines . . .
The ferry from Cebu City to Leyte Island
was full of people heading home, hoping their loved ones had been spared. Ramon
Gerardo, 46, like others on board, was not only delivering supplies to
typhoon-ravaged Tacloban. He was checking that his wife and children are still
alive.
"For two days, I sleep maybe two hours
only, thinking about what happened, what is happening to my family, my
relatives and all in Tacloban city and Leyte also," he said. At the end of
his three day journey from Saudi Arabia where he is a construction worker,
Ramon found his city reduced to rubble.
But
what of his family? The first signs at home were not promising. "No more
roof," he said, as he moved closer. But then, one by one, Ramon's three
sons and two daughters emerged, followed by his wife. The reunion was emotional
for all of them.
