Witnessing Haiyan's devastation: 'The Filipino spirit is alive among us'
In 17 years working at CNN I've worked on countless breaking news
stories, from earthquakes and hurricanes to the 2011 tsunami that
devastated Japan. But nothing prepared me for what I've seen in the past
few days in my own country -- the Philippines.
As Super Typhoon Haiyan
weaved its destructive path across the east of the country more than a
week ago, I was drafted in to help with our coverage as the network
scrambled into action.
It had only been nine
months since I'd left my newsroom job in the United States to join our
corporate offices in Hong Kong, but I quickly found myself in the city
of Tacloban, one of the hardest hit areas, with my CNN colleagues. I am
not used to being in the field, so to deal with this difficult
assignment in my own backyard, I had to shut down.
Offering all they have
We wasted no time. We
walked to a village nearby where we met Juanito Martinez. He was
gathered with two of his friends in a shack, not far from the city's
battered airport. Juanito looked at me with a smile and asked, "Have you
eaten yet? Come eat!" I was astonished that his first words to me were
to find out if I was hungry -- despite all that was happening around us.
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