Home financed by plumber’s Bermuda savings destroyed

Pedro Cabugawan arrived in Bermuda six years ago from the Philippines to earn enough money to build his family a home.

His house has been flattened by Typhoon Haiyan.

The death toll is expected to reach 2,500, but another 673,000 people have been displaced from their homes and need food, water and shelter. Mr Cabugawan’s family are believed to be alive but homeless, and he is anxious for news. His hometown of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, a fishing village on the Pacific coast, was where the typhoon first made landfall, shortly after 4am on Friday. The town of 47,000 people was razed. 

Once known for its beautiful beaches and colonial history — it was where Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan first arrived in 1521 — it is now a bleak wasteland. Toppled trees and power poles block road access, and there is no water supply or telecommunications. There have also been reports of looting.

Mr Cabugawan, 50, who lives in Southampton, wept as he spoke about his fears for his family: “I can’t sleep, as I don’t have any contact at home. All the communications in my hometown are down, so I don’t know what’s happening. I see only the images from there, that the whole area was flattened, and so many people have died.”

He is hopeful that his wife Eliza, three daughters Jeeann, 22, Maria Vanessa, 21, Karen Jean, 18, and son Juliusean, 17, have all survived: “My wife and daughters were in the house when the storm hit, but I don’t know what happened; how they escaped.”

His son Juliusean was in Tacloban, where up to 2,000 people are thought to have died. The city has been described as Typhoon Haiyan’s ‘ground zero’. “My boy is enrolled in a school there but I think he is safe,” Mr Cabugawan said: “I also have a small boarding house there which was swept away.”

Mr Cabugawan said his boss at IEL (Island Engineering Ltd) received a text message from one of his daughters, saying his family were safe: “I think the relief agencies have reached the area, and this allowed my daughter to send a message,” he said.

“... I don’t have a house anymore so I don’t know where they go now. But every time I try to contact them, by phone or Internet, there is nothing. It’s hard for me because I wasn’t there. I am alone here in Bermuda. I hope aid is coming to them...I work here in Bermuda just to build my house and to pay for college for my children. Now I will have to start building my house again. I feel sad. I hope I will get the chance to go back to the Philippines for a couple of months to make sure my family is safe. But I will come back to Bermuda because I have to work to build another house... If the people of Bermuda can help the Philippines, we are very appreciative.”