MANILLA BULLETIN – An estranged wife of a Norwegian who survived the wrath of Typhoon Yolanda but lost two of their three children when the super howler battered Tacloban City 11 days ago, called on the media to inform her husband about the tragedy that befell on their family.
Vilma Stenerson, 43, who sustained several injuries all over her body, made her urgent call during an exclusive interview with this writer at the Vicente Sotto Medical Center here where she was confined after she was evacuated by a C-130 plane of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) from typhoon-ravaged Tacloban.
Still in the state of trauma following her ordeal when the typhoon’s 315-kph winds swept thousands of houses, including her home, like toothpicks, Ms. Stenersen was heavily sobbing during the interview relating how her two children, Ericka, 18, and Maicah, 13, were carried into oblivion by strong water.
“I would like my husband, Nils Arve Stenersen to know what happened to us here and that our two children, including Maicah, one of the twins died,” she said.
Luckily, the other twin, Noah, 13, survived the typhoon’s fury.
Mrs. Stenersen also said that she and her husband have been separated for 10 years now but she would like to let him know that two of their three children died during the typhoon.
Her parents-in-law are Constance and Bergerson Stenersen living in Tellusvien 1A Averoy, Norway.
Mrs. Stenersen said that they opted to remain in their newly-built two-storey concrete house with the hope it was safe.
“It was too late when we realized that the roaring water was 10 meters high. We just held on but to no avail as the wind swept away our house,” Stenerson said.
“Fear of death stuck on my mind as our house started to crack at 7 pm of Nov. 8, an hour after the strong winds blew without letup,” she recalled.
“Mamatay na tayo lahat dito (We will all die here),” Mrs. Stenersen told her children who clang to dear life as the typhoon battered their home.
The 43-year old housewife said it was the most horrible typhoon she had experienced in all her life considering that typhoons come and go in Tacloban every year.
Typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) was the strongest ever in the world to hit landfall that brought a wrath of destruction in Eastern Visayas, particularly Samar and Leyte and other island provinces in Central and Western Visayas.
Mrs. Stenersen said that with no possession left, she appealed to her estranged husband who is in Norway to help her and their son, Noah, to cope with life.
She was discharged from hospital on Monday and is now staying temporarily at Literature Ministry Seminary National Highway, Bulacao, Talisay City in Cebu.
Asked what her plans are, Mrs. Stenerson said “I want to put up anew a sari-sari store for a living. My store in Tacloban was destroyed. I hope my estranged husband or the government would give me a capital for my small business I planned to put up in the days to come.”
She said she plans to stay in Cebu for good, saying “I’m scared to go back to Tacloban.”
“Will someone help me, please!” was Mrs. Stenersen’s appeal for help.
(PNA)
Source: Manilla Bulletin
