[Letters] Typhoon survivor shares his personal story

In the wake of Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, reader Daniel writes:

Our town of Javier, Leyte was just as badly hit as tacloban and guian Samar. Fortunately, my brother Sandy who is the mayor there, was able to forewarn our constituents to gather at storm shelters before the storm hit. Although 90% of residential structures were felled! we only had 3 casualties, all seniors who could not stand the stress of being in the storm for four hours.

We have made it a point to just use our own network and resources to start relief and rehabilitation work in our town and nearby municipalities in coordination with like minded local officials. I have made a personal decision to ignore the noise of media, armchair executives and the strident opinions of people who do not matter to the task at hand. The voices of self glorification and off the cuff expertise are irrelevant to our situation at the moment and deserve the least bit of our attention.

I understand the wisdom of your position.

As we all try to return to reality on the ground.