If not for typhoon Yolanda, the Diano family would still be in Tacloban City with their five children and a booming printing business.
Wendell Diano, 33, arrived at the Mactan airbase on a C-130 flight with his family on Friday, exactly a week after the violent storm ‘Yolanda”.
He told Cebu Daily News they couldn’t stand the stench of bodies left on the streets.
“Grabe na kaayo didto hangtod karon ang ubang patay naa pa didto sa dan sa highway,” he said of the foul odor.
He escaped with his six-month pregnant wife, Julie Ann, 29, and four children aged 2 to 7. His brother-in-law, Jay-v, went with them.
Wendell owns Diano’s Graphic which has been operating for a year.
When asked about his experience in the typhoon Diano said he would never forget it for the rest of his life.
He paused, and looked up to prevent tears from falling. He avoided eye contact with his children who sat on the ground on carton mats eagerly waiting to hear what their father would say in the interview.
The ordeal with Yolanda started with uncertainty.
It was 3 a.m. and Diano and his 62-year-old father were unable to sleep because of the unusually strong wind. (Weathermen later said gusts reached 300 kilometers per hour at its peak.)
Both men went outside and saw the trees bending, and heard roof sheets screeching as if they were being torn apart.
For hours, the family stayed in the kitchen to wait out the storm. His parents and other relatives gathered there. Then they saw the water enter the house, rising quickly.
Searching for a place to hold on, family members decided to climb the concrete wall of the comfort room which had no ceiling yet.
Eight adults and children perched on the wall as refuge as sea water gushed into the house. A contractor’s error had left part of the house unfinished with no ceiling.
In hindsight, said Wendell, this may have been part of God’s plan so his family could survive the calamity.
“Duha mi ka oras didto nag tong-tong sa ibabao wall,” he said. (We stayed up on the wall for two hours.)
Wendell hoped hard that the water would not rise any higher or they would drown.
They also thought of getting up on the roof.
“Nagduha-duha pami ug adto sa atop kay mapalid unya mi,” he said. (We had second thoughts of going to the roof because the wind may blow us off and take us with it.)
His wife, heavy with child, said she had no choice but to climb up as well to survive.
Julie Ann, a native of Dalaguete town, south Cebu, said her family will stay for awhile in Dalaguete.
But in a few days, said Wendell, he would return to barangay San Jose, Tacloban City since his parents and relatives are still there.
First, he plans to buy supplies – flashlights, batteries, radios and even a small generator to help others charge their mobile phones.
Wendell’s uncle, Mario Sison and his entire family died in the storm. Only the youngest son, Michael, survived by clinging to a post during the storm surge.
Wendell is lucky to have the means to get back on his feet.
He said his family would sell their property in barangay Tayud, Cebu so they can fund their recovery. Others have fewer options for a new life.