Harrowing tales of survival have surrounded Kelowna man Chris Hagel since he touched down in Tacloban, Philippines to complete some relief work.
“Our first day here we spent clearing rubble at an orphanage and then feeding (survivors) a healthy meal. It was an incredible time of hearing their (stories) of surviving the typhoon,” he wrote family and friends last week.
“The miracle of it was that all 70 (orphans) survived the storm on the roof top as they are right on the shore line. They are the only home along this portion of coast that had no casualties.”
To escape the 30 foot waves that were filling the house with water, Hagel was told everyone climbed to the roof, but 11 of the children had been in a bedroom on the ground floor.
When the water started to rise, they were trapped, forcing them to smash through the wall to be able to get out.
Once they had made it to the roof, older children laid on top of the younger children so they would not be blown away.
“Looking at the house I struggle to picture having that many of them up there and what that would have been like for them….It’s been amazing spending time with them,” he said.
The conditions are a stark contrast to Hagel’s life in the Okanagan, although Hagel, 29, is no stranger to working with people in crisis, His mother Terry Hagel explained.
“He’s been with the group Youth With a Mission for a couple of years, and he always wanted to go help people,” she said,
“It’s just something that’s been in him. He’s travelled a few places. He’s been to Romania, and he was in Zambia for three-and-a-half months building an orphanage.”
It’s work that makes Terry very proud and reflects well on lessons she tried to instil in Chris’s childhood.
“I do a lot of community work, and I try to help through our parish, and my husband is involved with the Knights of Columbus,” she said.
“My kids have always volunteered… We are so lucky here, and I think things like this make us more grateful for how lucky we are here compared to out there.”
Typhoon Haiyan is one of the strongest storms to make landfall anywhere, reduced almost everything in its path to rubble when it swept ashore in the central Philippines on Nov. 8, 2012killing at least 6,190 people, leaving 1,785 missing and 4 million either homeless or with damaged homes
To donate to the Okanagan relief group that Hagel works with, which relies fully on fundraising and support from community, go to www.ywam.org
