Church destroyed, faith intact
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Palo, Philippines - Ramon Codilla cannot walk. An artery in his right leg was cut last week as Typhoon Haiyan battered his town. But the Codilla family was attending the first Sunday mass at their cathedral, to give thanks.
"We are here to thank God," said the father of three, after being carried by a driver from a rickshaw to a plastic chair. A second chair was placed in front of him to prop up his heavily bandaged right leg.
"I was bleeding for five hours after an iron sheet broke through our door and hit a major artery in my ankle," he said. "The flood water turned red and I could smell the stench of my blood. It was my worst nightmare."
Codilla said he became too weak from the blood loss, and suddenly "could no longer see anything."
"All I could see was bright light, nothing else," he said. "I woke up in hospital three days later."
"I am so thankful the doctors were able to revive me," he continued.
More than 200 people attended the mass at the Our Lord's Transfiguration Cathedral in town of Palo, in the worst-hit province of Leyte. At least 859 people were killed in Palo as Haiyan's ferocious winds and tsunami-like waves flattened the town.
Only a third of the cathedral's roof remained. The dome covering the main altar was ripped off. Steel and wooden trusses hung precariously on distorted steel frames. Fans and chandeliers dangled, dangerously close to falling.
The pews were strewn all over, covered with fallen plywood from the ceiling, aluminium braces, twisted iron sheets and other debris. The altar was wet and littered with violet and white shredded cloth.
Amid the destruction, all 12 statues of saints, Jesus and the Virgin Mary adorning the altar and the sides of the church were unscathed.
The stench of garbage and decaying flesh wafted into the church.
The mass was held in a part of the church with a roof. The priest converted a small table into a makeshift altar. A man with a guitar and two singers made up the choir.
It was a solemn ceremony, as people held on to their faith amid the tragedy.
Yolanda Recuerdo, 35, came to mass with her mother and brother. Her two children - a 3-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter - were still missing, swept away by the floods.
"I am praying to God to give me a miracle and save my two children," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I love them so much."
Recuerdo has not yet told her husband, a seafarer who is abroad, that their children are missing.
"I don't know how to tell him," she said, sobbing. She said she was swept away by the raging floodwaters before she got a chance to get her children.
On the other side of the church, Chris Batiga was standing alone.
The 45-year-old father of two said: "I am here to thank God that my family is safe. We lost our home but that's okay. I can still rebuild our house."
Batiga said he also came to pray for his neighbours, many of who lost their loved ones. "I hope God will give them the strength to move on."
Monsignour Bernardo Pantin, vicar general of the archdiocese of Palo, offered comfort and hope to the survivors.
"We have suffered a great tragedy but with the grace of God, this trial will pass," he said, as some parishioners came up to him to kiss his hand. "A lot of lives had been lost, there is so much pain and suffering everywhere."
"The best we can do is to provide people with hope and comfort, and assure them that God is with them in this trying time," he added.
Pantin said the cathedral, which was first built in 1596, was renovated last year. It would now have to be reconstructed.
"We are confident that we can rebuild this with the people's help, but that will come later on," he said. "Our priority is to ease the suffering of our brothers and sisters."
Codilla said he was glad that he could attend mass, noting that it was his faith that kept him alive.
"As the winds ripped apart our house and I became so weak, I prayed hard and begged God to give me another chance," he said. "I just hope that I can still walk. I am praying to God that I can still walk."
