Mr. Albert Mulles, the renowned author of “Typhoon Haiyan- the Untold Story: A Story of Hope and Survival and “The Wrath of the Sea” which tackled the recounts of the different episodes of the Haiyan tragedy, capped off the Haiyan Conversations Series during its 12th episode entitled “The Role of Media in a Disaster: The Haiyan Experience” on November 8, 2022 via zoom.
With him and served as the reactor of the episode was Mr. Ronald O. Reyes, a Sunstar Correspondent.
Mr. Mulles focused his talk on citizens journalism and how this platform made a difference in the face of Philippine journalism.
His diary of day-to-day experiences after the onslaught of Typhoon Haiyan became the instrument of his contribution to Haiyan history.
“I collated everything I had and turned it into a book -a message of history” he added.
“The devastation became the trajectory of positivism. We channel that to be more creative and resilient to bring out the beacon of hope and set the example of resilience.”
He further mentioned that media was able to humanize the person in a façade of disaster and how the true measure of man’s worth surface when he is tested.
“The Haiyan experience was a game changer. It made us learn how to handle things and rise above the situation we are in.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Reyes recalled how some media men perish while doing their job. He stipulated that he advocates land rights, shelter rights of the victims, among others He further mentioned that there are still resettlement areas that remained unfinished and unoccupied.
The media has a different way of validating reports and filtering data. On the other hand, citizen journalism can be used for psyche war or propaganda.
In the concluding part of the conversations, Mr. Mulles offered his assistance to sponsor the visa of the Eastern Visayas State University key officials to visit Japan to benchmark its technology on disaster preparedness and mitigation.
Conversely, Mr. Reyes emphasized that media never stop reporting the things to be addressed by the government and acknowledged the big role of the civil society in mitigating disaster.
The conversations ended with an optimistic plan to translate the proceedings of the lecture series into a film or a coffee table book.
The key officials of the university led by Dr. Dennis C. de Paz and other participants attended the event while Dr. Ma. Cristina I. Caintic, the former Vice-President for Research Development and Extension Services, and Prof. Faustito A. Aure, the Director of Internationalization hosted the occasion.
