WINFIELD — It’s now labelled one of the worst storms in recorded history. The wrath of typhoon Haiyan feared to have taken 10,000 lives.
However the havoc on the other side of the world has had a major ripple affect, making waves here in the Okanagan valley.
Glued to the television since the crack of dawn the Vince family can only watch their former home fall to pieces.
“Its so difficult…like why?” questioned a tearful Marife Vince. “This is so unbelieveable.”
She and her Canadian husband Brad met and married in the Philippines. Their combined family of seven resided in the country before moving back to Canada a year and a half ago.
Vince’s father, sisters, brother and the rest of her family and friends still reside there, some right in Tacloban City where the typhoon hit.
She’s been unable to contact anyone since it made landfall.
Vince clings to every update on social media hoping to hear something; the powerful pictures online send shivers down her spine.
The images stir up memories of 1987 when she felt the wrath of a crippling typhoon in the Philippines first hand.
She, like many in the Philipines, lost everything that day.
“It hurts me because I see my wife crying about it for her home people,” said husband Brad Vince.
The Okanagan Filipino Canadians group has heard an outcry from the community.
“They’re worried about hot their families are. There’s no news. A number of them have been phoning me,” said Victoria Oppertshauser, who runs the OFC.
The group is accepting donations and a local fundraiser is in the works.
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