Typhoon Haiyan Turned Me from Tourist to Medic

All photos courtesy of Mark Dashwood

When you're preparing to set off on a backpacking trip from Devon to Southeast Asia, you probably make a decent effort to plan things properly. I'd imagine that one of the things you don't – or simply can't – plan for is a typhoon that kills thousands of people and triggers hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of foreign aid to pour into your tiny tropical paradise. This is what happened to my friend Mark Dashwood, an English doctor who happened to be in the Philippines when Typhoon Haiyan struck. Within hours he was turned from tourist to medic and, as you can imagine, things have gotten pretty intense. I called him up to see how he and the local people he's encountered are faring.

VICE: Hi Matt, where were you when the storm hit?
Mark Dashwood: I was in Boracay, it’s quite a touristy island in central Philippines. Did people know how bad it was going to be?
I read about it on the BBC website two days before it was due, but no one else had heard about it. I told the owner of the hostel I was staying in, and he set up a meeting to inform the rest. I read as much as I could online, and as soon as I realised how big it was going to be I booked a flight to Manila for the next morning. There were a lot of people who wanted to stay, claiming it wasn't going to be that bad, but I wanted to get the hell out of there. Understandable. Did you get out?
I went to the ports the next day and tried to leave the island but they’d closed them. There were hundreds of people trying to do the same thing and no one could get off.

Shit. Why did they close the ports?
I think it was on government orders. They get these signals for how bad it’s going to be and Boracay got a signal 4, which is the worst. The orders from the government were to close everything. At the time it was really frustrating because I had a flight on the mainland – only a ten-minute boat journey away. In hindsight, I see it as a good thing because I know people that got across and their flights were cancelled.

There’s a lack of infrastructure on the mainland, which means loads had to stay in huts and just wait for the typhoon to pass. It kind of makes sense that they tried to contain people. I guess. Where are you now?
I’m in Cebu right now, which hasn’t been massively hit by the storm; the worst hit areas are in the north of Cebu and the eastern islands, like Tacloban. There are a lot of more rural places that no one is really sure about at the moment. Cebu has kind of become the hub from where the whole relief effort is being coordinated. Places that have been badly hit are only two or three hours drive from here.

Are people heading for Cebu, then?
Yeah, the airport is pretty busy. Lots of aid organisations have started coming in, including the military. Despite that, it’s still quite difficult for people to get here; a lot of the roads are closed. What role is the military playing?
The military have mainly been deployed to try to control the situation – there’s been looting in places like Tacloban. I’ve heard reports that the military have shot people. People worry a lot. Cebu wasn’t too badly hit but there are so many people coming in from the remote places – people who have lost their entire families. It's pretty tragic.

I’ve spent the last few days trying to find ways to help with medical organisations. Yesterday, I was at one of the government buildings and we helped package food and rice – tonnes and tonnes are coming in. Tomorrow I’m travelling north for that and I’m not really sure what to expect.

So foreign aid is getting through?
Yes, it’s getting through. There’s an airport in Cebu but it’s a lot more difficult getting it to the remote areas. All the roads are down, there’s debris and shit everywhere. I went down to the airport and sat next to someone from the UN. The World Health Organisation are arriving tomorrow – so yeah, people are really starting to flood in. Even in Tacloban, planes keep coming in. It has taken a long time, though – I mean, it’s been more than a week now. People are hungry and desperate. You’re not a tourist any more, are you?
It’s been very surreal, getting wrapped up in the whole thing. Because Boracay wasn’t that badly hit, sitting on the beach I ended up feeling a bit useless. There’s a Danish guy here, who’s getting money from home and has hired a truck and he's just driven off with a few more people trying to aid hard-hit areas on their own. A lot of people have gone home, but there are also those who are still here trying to make a holiday out of it. Are you planning to stick around?
I’m here till December, so I guess I’ll be helping until then. Once you get involved it’s very hard to leave. You see and hear about disasters like this all the time, but when you actually experience such a thing yourself it’s worse than you ever imagined. I’ve got a bit of medical experience, and that makes it my obligation to do something. Thanks, Mark. Stay safe.

Follow Tristan on Twitter: @tristanjamesme

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