Surigao City, Philippines, Dec 20 (AFP\/APP):With no mobile signal or internet to contact loved ones, typhoon survivors stranded on a devastated Philippine island have written letters to reassure worried relatives they are alive.<\/p>\n
Photos of the touching missives were posted Monday on the Facebook page of Dinagat Islands Governor Arlene Bag-ao, who has been able to get online during trips to the neighbouring island of Mindanao where she is seeking help for her constituents.<\/p>\n
“We are happy to be alive,” Aimee Antonio-Jimeno wrote in a letter dated December 19 and addressed to “my dearest sister”.
\n“Our houses are roofless but we are not hopeless! Please let all our families know.”<\/p>\n
At least 14 people died in Dinagat Islands when Super Typhoon Rai hit Thursday, tearing houses to pieces, toppling concrete power poles and smashing fishing boats.<\/p>\n
The national death toll from the strongest storm to hit the country this year exceeds 200.<\/p>\n
Many of Dinagat’s 128,000 residents sheltered in evacuation centres ahead of the storm and are now homeless. There is also a shortage of drinking water and food, officials said.<\/p>\n
After receiving requests for updates on the situation, Bag-ao urged people to write letters to their families outside Dinagat to let them know they were safe.<\/p>\n
She posted the epistles to Facebook — the most popular social media platform in the Philippines — titled “Letters from Dinagat Islands”.
\n“Please stop worrying about me. I’m fine,” a woman wrote on provincial health office stationery.<\/p>\n
“The house you all wanted me to move out of is one of the houses still standing so sometimes it’s a good thing I’m too lazy to move,” she said wryly.<\/p>\n
But in a sombre note, she added: “Twelve deaths and counting, sanitation is a problem.”
\nRaymond Gonzales wrote briefly: “I’m ok here. Let’s just spend Christmas here.”<\/p>\n
“All of us are safe,” wrote Jane Mayola. “Merry Christmas and hope to see you all soon! We love you!!!”
\nProvincial information officer Jeff Crisostomo told ABS-CBN that Dinagat Islands had been “levelled to the ground” by the typhoon.<\/p>\n
“I saw tables that were heavier than people being blown off from the second floor,” he said.
\n“When we got out I saw the devastation — the houses were all destroyed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Surigao City, Philippines, Dec 20 (AFP\/APP):With no mobile signal or internet to contact loved ones, typhoon survivors stranded on a devastated Philippine island have written letters to reassure worried relatives they are alive. Photos of the touching missives were posted Monday on the Facebook page […]<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":30868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15006],"class_list":["post-30867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-world-news","tag-im-ok-philippine-typhoon-survivors-write-letters-to-loved-ones"],"yoast_head":"\n