‘I didn’t think we’d survive typhoon’

On a crowded and humid ward in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Hospital in the Philippines, in the city of Cebu, amid single beds packed with families, lies a young boy, his arm heavily bandaged.

Mal Aron Antivo, aged 11, describes how his family fled from their lightly constructed wooden home in Tacloban, the epicentre of where the storm struck on the night of Nov 8.

“We hid in the van for shelter when the typhoon hit. But a tree flew into it,” says the youngster pointing at his bandaged right arm, where doctors have carried out a skin graft.

Mal’s older brother, Jerric, 22, is keeping an eye on him in hospital.

“I heard the winds, saw the flying debris and plywood,” said Jerric. “All five of our family were in that van and very frightened when the tree crashed into it. I didn’t think we’d live through that storm.”

The Antivo family no longer has a home and are living out of an evacuation centre in Cebu city. A giant army C-130 plane transported the injured boys and their family away from Tacloban and onto the neighbouring island.

Other patients cramped into the wards explain how roofs flew around in the air and coconuts came straight at them in the 200mph winds.

Aid workers continue to stream into the region, and Development Minister Joe Costello yesterday said the Government is pledging an extra €1.6m to the international relief effort — bringing the Irish contribution to more than €3m.