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Supertyphoon Pongsona Remembered: Two Years Later
By Bonnie Gillespie, Staff Writer and Photographer, RedCross.org
Monday, December 20, 2004 — Two years ago at Christmastime, families across the island of Guam weren’t buying presents or hanging lights and tinsel. Instead, they were sifting through the remnants of their homes and lives in the aftermath of Supertyphoon Pongsona. On Dec. 8, 2002, the vicious storm pounded the Pacific island with winds reportedly topping 200 mph, wreaking havoc on the U.S. territory and triggering a sweeping relief effort from the American Red Cross.
Along Highway 1 near Hagatna, Guam, a tattered sign echoes the outlook of the islanders, despite the debris left by Supertyphoon Pongsona. |
Even as the holidays fast approached, more than 400 dedicated Red Cross volunteers and staff boarded planes to take part in disaster relief services thousands of miles away. More than 1,800 homes in Guam were completely destroyed by what proved to be one of the worst storms ever to strike the Pacific island. Thousands more homes and businesses were damaged on the 36-mile-long island, which is home to 150,000 residents, including natives and a large U.S. military population.
Hampered by shortages of gas, food, water and electricity, resourceful volunteers persisted in bringing recovery to the people of Guam. Using generator power, the Red Cross opened six service centers in communities most affected by the supertyphoon and ultimately assisted tens of thousands of victims.
“The people of Guam were so thankful when they learned that the Red Cross volunteers traveled from as far away as Washington, D.C. to come to their aid,” said Carrie Martin, who spent the holiday season of 2002 volunteering with the American Red Cross in Guam. “It was an amazing experience to be around so many Red Cross volunteers who left their families back in the states to spend the holidays helping people they’d never met.”
Tireless volunteers served more than 360,000 meals and snacks to typhoon victims in their communities and in government operated shelters, in addition to distributing almost 4,000 comfort kits to families and individuals affected by the storm.
Many displaced families lived for months in tents following the devastating typhoon and others are still struggling to rebuild. |
“So many of the people were truly devastated and had lost everything,” said Martin. “The island itself was in shambles – not only were buildings ripped to pieces by the winds, huge palm trees were splintered and stripped of their palms, and it was eerily quiet, as if the birds and wildlife had been blown away. Of the five other disasters I had worked on, I had never seen devastation that compared to that.”
Two years later, storm-recovery continues, from Pongsona and others like it. This year alone, 29 storms have pounded the Pacific region, but none as devastating as the monstrous typhoon of Dec. 2002.
Economically, Guam was wiped out by Supertyphoon Pongsona, losing millions of tourism dollars and relying on emergency imports of food, water and other essential supplies for months after the disaster. Hundreds of millions of dollars of federal aid were essential for rebuilding efforts throughout the island and humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross offered millions more in recovery support.
However, since the typhoon occurred thousands of miles from the U.S. mainland and outside the scope of national media coverage, many Americans were unaware of the tremendous toll the typhoon took on their fellow citizens across the Pacific Ocean. The Red Cross spent over $17 million from its Disaster Relief Fund responding to the Guam disaster but only $1 million was raised in support of the operation.
“While most people don’t even know where the island is, the Red Cross monitors and responds to disasters nationwide, including territories like Guam,” said Martin. “The Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund enables the organization to respond to meet the needs of disaster victims—even in Guam.”
You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year by contributing to our Disaster Relief Fund. Donate online or call toll free 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-257-7575 for Spanish speakers) or you can mail in your gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.
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