Christmas
\nTyphoon Rai killed nearly 400 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless
\n Alegria
\nFather Ricardo Virtudazo stands in a pool of water in his typhoon-hit church in the southern Philippines delivering Christmas Day mass to dozens of devotees whose wishes this year were for new roofs, food and fine weather.
\nMore than a week after Typhoon Rai cut a swathe through the archipelago, killing nearly 400 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless, survivors clung to family and faith after their homes — and planned festivities — were wiped out.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s important is all of us are safe,\u201d said Joy Parera, 31, attending Christmas mass with her husband at San Isidro Labrador Parish church in the town of Alegria, on the northern tip of Mindanao island.
\nA light rain soaked the pews and white tiled floor of the damaged church, which has been left with a gaping hole in the roof after Rai ravaged the area.
\nDevotees wore masks as they gathered inside the church festooned with Christmas decorations and prayed for a better year.
\n\u201cWe still have hope,\u201d Virtudazo told AFP.
\n\u201cIn spite of the calamities they experience, they still have faith in God.\u201d
\nChristmas is one of the most important events in the Christian calendar and in the Catholic-majority Philippines, families typically gather to share a meal.
\nBut the widespread destruction caused by Rai in the southern and central regions of the country has dampened celebrations as many survivors plead for drinking water and food.
\nMindanao, Siargao, Dinagat and Bohol islands are among the most devastated by the storm, which knocked out electricity, tore off roofs, shredded wooden buildings, felled concrete power poles and uprooted trees.
\nThe scale of the damage, lack of mobile phone signal or internet in many areas, and depleted government coffers after the Covid-19 response were hampering efforts to distribute aid.
\n\u2018We\u2019ll make do with spaghetti\u2019
\nNardel Vicente said his Christmas wish was for someone to help him buy a new roof for his house in Alegria after it was wrecked by Rai, which hit the country on December 16 as a super typhoon.
\nJobless and with little money to spare, Vicente said his family would not be able to prepare a festive meal this year.
\n\u201cIn previous years we had spaghetti, pork, chicken — whatever we could afford between us,\u201d the 38-year-old said.
\nBut he added: \u201cThat\u2019s ok — we\u2019re alive. It\u2019s better than welcoming Christmas with a dead loved one.\u201d
\nMarites Sotis usually serves up meat, spring rolls and salad for her family.
\n\u201cWe won\u2019t have those this year because they cost a lot of money,\u201d Sotis, 53, told AFP in the coastal municipality of Placer where the storm felled most of her family\u2019s coconut trees.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll make do with spaghetti.\u201d
\nSome survivors in nearby Surigao City have been standing on roads for days begging for money and food from passing motorists after failing to receive a scrap of government assistance.
\nInaga Edulzura, 41, said she hoped to get a packet of spaghetti to cook for her family. Otherwise, they would \u201cmake do with sliced bread\u201d.
\n\u201cOur only request is that there\u2019s fine weather on Christmas Day to give us some cheer,\u201d she told AFP.
\n\u201cThat and some food.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christmas Typhoon Rai killed nearly 400 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless Alegria Father Ricardo Virtudazo stands in a pool of water in his typhoon-hit church in the southern Philippines delivering Christmas Day mass to dozens of devotees whose wishes this year were for new roofs, food and fine weather. More than a week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-235007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n