Haiyan The Aftermath: Images and Stories of Recovery in Samar and Leyte

By Lucian Letaba (Author)

Quick Overview

Haiyan The Aftermath: Images and Stories of Recovery in Samar and Leyte revisits the most talked-about tragedy in recent recorded history, two years after it hit land, in a more positive point of departure- by knowing how current efforts towards recovery and rebuilding are taking shape in the areas affected by the country's worst-ever disaster. Accompanied by compelling images taken by the expert lensing of three featured photographers, the book is a fresh attempt at identifying the programs and activities that were undertaken in the immediate post-disaster period while highlighting the recovery and rebuilding by all stakeholders. To provide, in part, a picture of recovery accomplishments and outcomes in text and photos, the book consists of six chapters covering the various sectors, from the local government units (LGUs), health, church, livelihood and enterprise, arts to the local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs/I-NGOs). This content framework was intended to allow the reader to get an encompassing view of the recovery landscape through a multi-faceted glimpse of life after Haiyan in the covered areas of Tanauan, Palo and Tacloban in Leyte, Basey and Guiuan in Samar. The book's literary DNA spins around the inspiring recovering stories, big and small, revealing some inescapable life-changing compromises and turning-point decisions made by individuals and families as they lived each day with nothing to cling on but their indefatigable spirit for survival and faith. Haiyan The Aftermath allows you to embark on a vicarious travelogue of the people's struggle for survival and hope in the aftermath of a disaster. Let us journey with their stories.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lucien Y. Letaba holds a degree in Economics at the University of The Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. He has taught economics and theater arts in various colleges and universities in Cebu City. His creative thriving finds roots to his involvement in cultural work, particularly theater, having been a member of the world-renowned Philippines Educational Theater Association (PETA) . This experience has provided him with opportunities to expand and diversify his creative practice consequently making him a specialist and innovator in a range of works to include development and multimedia production. Lucien also hails from Zumarranga, Samar has composed music for the stage, film and mainstream recording. His greater contribution to the Philippine culture in general is his outstanding bodies of work, having written to date, 15 commissioned full-length musicales in Waray, Cebuano and Tagalog in more than 30 years of music theatre experience. Lucien, who composed the iconic "Balud" , the most-loved Waray song of all generations, has also written and produced to date all 6 all-Waray and Tagalog original CD albums which featured homegrown talents from the Visayas as well as collaborative projects with commercial recording artists like Piolo Pascal, Ariel Rivera, Eric Santos, Noel Cabangon, Kitchie Nadal, Like Mejares, Tres Marias and OGSacred. In the silver screen, Lucien has also left a name to carve as theme song composer and musical director/scorer in movies like Haplos (1982) , Hubad na Pangarap (1987), Dukot (2010), Sigwa (2010), Migrante (2012), Burgos and Cinemalaya's Babagwa in 2013, where he won awards and nominations for the Best Theme Song and Best Original Score. In 1998, he was the grand champion in the 1st Cebu Open Music Festival with his song "Paano Kaya Kung an Musika'y Wala?". He is currently developing exemplars in Music Education for elementary and high school levels utilizing Waray traditional and contemporary songs as form template to study basic elements of music such as rhythm, melody and harmony. his dream project is to publish a collection of his works in book form with musical score and select audio recording tracks.