I still get asked if my family and I were among those severely affected by Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. Thankfully, we were spared, along with the library where I work. Others, however, were not as lucky.
The before-and-after photos above were taken from the Facebook account of the ESSU Guiuan University Library. The municipality of Guiuan, Samar, was one of the first to be savaged by the typhoon. (I have not asked for permission to reproduce the photos, but I hope no one will mind. Click on the photos above to see other before-and-after photos.)
I have not found any other photos of libraries that were destroyed (but I will add them to this post if they are brought to my attention). There is, however, a video of a library that survived the typhoon, but has now been turned into an evacuation center, and will probably also need rehabilitation later on. (See "Tacloban library turns into an evacuation center").
If you would like to help rebuild libraries destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, please consider making donations through the Philippine Librarians Association, Inc. (PLAI) or, if you would like to make a donation using your credit card, through the American Library Association, which is helping PLAI raise funds.
If you would like to send books for a specific library, the Rizal Library (of which I am the Director) is collecting books for Sacred Heart College in Tacloban, Leyte. (Although this high school was 5 kilometers away from the shore, the storm surges still reached the second floor of their building. Unfortunately, their library was on the first floor.) We are looking for for high school reference books (e.g., dictionaries, encyclopedia, atlases), recreational reading for young adults (e.g., Harry Potter, romances), and whatever you may have found useful when you were in high school. Please send an email to rizalDOTlibraryATadmuDOTeduDOTph.
