Tacloban City completed three days of memorial activities on Thursday as it remembered the thousands of its residents who perished amid the widespread destruction brought about by super typhoon “Yolanda” when it struck four years ago. “We wanted the memorial to be meaningful and heartfelt,” said Mayor Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez, whose husband Alfred was mayor when “Yolanda” struck in November 2013. The commemoration started off with thanksgiving Masses and wreath-laying ceremonies in Tacloban and Palo, Leyte on Tuesday, Nov. 7. Another wreath was laid and offered at a spiral structure of the Tacloban City Convention Center, which was turned into an evacuation center for 8,000 people during the typhoon’s aftermath. It was so meaningful to me,” said city native and Miss Philippines candidate Patrick Asturias, whose family businesses were washed away in the storm surge floods created by “Yolanda.”

Source: The Standard November 09, 2017 12:56 UTC