A Miracle In the Horrific Aftermath Of Typhoon Haiyan
If you’ve been following the sad news of Typhoon Hainan in the Philippines this weekend, here’s a tiny bit of brightness in the blight: A baby girl was born to a survivor in an emergency shelter.
The baby girl, Bea Joy Sagales, was born at the airport in the city of Tacloban today, providing a bit of hope in the devastated central region of the Philippines. Her mother, Emily Ortega, gave birth in an emergency clinic, just three days after the typhoon totally devastated the area. Ortega was in an emergency center when the typhoon hit and she reportedly had to swim to safety and cling to a post in order to survive the flooding, only to give birth a few days later. Luckily, Ortega’s husband was safe over 300 miles way in the capital of Manila, so he escaped the storm. On a sadder note, the baby was named after her grandmother, Beatrice, who remains missing.
About 10,000 are feared to be dead in Tacloban after the storm, which basically completely razed the city. It’s amazing to think that Emily Ortega and her unborn baby were able to survive a storm that caused such a unconceivable amount of destruction. Makes you kind of sit back in awe of the power of the human instinct to survive, doesn’t it? It’s sad that baby Bea was born in the face of such tragedy, but hopefully her presence will be a source of light, hope and optimism for the community, especially since cheers apparently rang out in the shelter when she was born.
Photo: Getty Images