CULASI, Antique - “We have come a long way to here in UCCP Culasi be-cause we were informed we will receive relief goods distributed by the church,” said Morita Anos, a resident of Flores, a farming village 17 kilo-meters from Culasi town proper and is located on the foot of Mount Ma-dia-as, the tallest range in the island of Panay.

“We have been eating only palawan for days to stave off our hunger,” Anos said. “Storm Yolanda destroyed all our crops that were due to be harvested this month of November.” Palawan is a root crop common in the area used as substitute staple when rice become scarce.

“Our houses were also destroyed, our small belongings scattered all over and it seems we have to start from scratch to get on with our lives”, Anos said, but with nary a trace of despair in her eyes. Despite of the situation the positive outlook of many, even of those affected, is a kind of reassur-ance that will enable them to tide over this tragic experience, she added.

Though not receiving as much media attention as that of Tacloban, the town of Culasi, along with other eight neighboring towns in the province of Antique, were as badly battered and devastated by tropical storm Yolanda (international name: Haiyan). The other towns include Laua-an, Bugasong, Barbasa, Tibiao, Sebaste, Pandan, Libertad and Caluya.

“We sent quick reaction teams in the aftermath of superstorm Yolanda to survey its impact on different areas and we are overwhelmed by the dev-astation based on the data and footages provided to us,” said Rev. Rom-mel Marcelino, conference minister of the UCCP Western Visayas Confer-ence. “We have gathered an initial of 3,000 families affected by the disas-ter, 24 UCCP local churches destroyed, and with only one church member who died of heart attack during the storm impact. More data will be com-ing in as our QRTs continue to do survey especially in the isolated interior villages.”

“So far we have distributed relief goods to 1,900 families from 48 villages in our designated relief centers in the towns of Laua-an, Tibiao, Barbasa and Culasi,” Rev. Marcelino said. “This is just the initial wave of our relief distribution as there are more service areas that we have to reach”.

UCCP so far has distributed a combined 5,700 relief goods in various major areas including Tacloban, Ormoc, Borongan, Bohol and Antique.

Contents of the UCCP relief package include 5 kgs of rice, 1/2 kg sugar, 1/4 kg salt, 2 packs biscuits, 4 canned sardines, 4 noodle packs, 25 g pow-dered milk, 25 g coffee and 2 liters of bottled water. Each relief package costs PhP500 (equivalent to USD12) intended for 2 days for a family of six.