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Philippine Relief

Friday, 15 November 2013 at 10:53

Local resident finally hears from her family, a week after Typhoon Haiyan

It's the phone call of a lifetime.

Local resident Di Van Dyk, after worrying about her family and friends in the Philippines, for the last week finally heard from them last night.  Communications had been severed in many islands of the Pacific nation after Super Typhoon Haiyan blew through last Friday with wind speeds in excess of 300km/h.

Her brother called, and Van Dyk tells us what her reaction was when she heard her brother's voice.  "All I could do was scream.  Then I asked him how he managed to call.  They had travelled for about two hours or more because they heard there's a cellphone ontop of a mountain in this other city, and if they could get to it, they could make a phone call."

As we reported earlier this week, Van Dyk's family is from a small town called Abuyog on the island of Leyte.

Van Dyk tells Heart FM what her brother told her about the situation there.  "Lots of houses are gone.  The situation is not that good.  People are starving, but that's beside the point, my family are ok.  I'm so happy."

At this point, they have not seen relief workers yet, and despite the fact that people are starving, they are sharing whatever they have.

It's a desperate situation throughout the country, where the death toll has risen to 3600 as of Friday morning.  Authorities estimate there are 600,000 who are homeless.

If you'd like to make a donation to relief in the Philippines, click on one of the agencies below:

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