Ronalyn Carbonel, 48, from the village of Rizal in the Philippines, survived terrifying typhoons but her home and belongings were destroyed. She sent her flood-wrecked sofa to Shell’s London headquarters as part of a Greenpeace protest to demand they pay up for fuelling the climate crisis. This is her story.
Every time the rainy seasons come, we remember the storms of the past, and we are scared.
I have four kids, and during typhoon Ondoy we were stranded on the roof of our home for two days waiting for help. It’s not easy, we had no electricity, no light. The children were so afraid, and I just told them: “Don’t worry it will be fine, just pray to God that this typhoon will pass.”
Three dams were breached. Most of Metro Manila was already underwater. I couldn’t ask my neighbours for help because they were in the same situation. We couldn’t go outside; we were surrounded by the river, like an island. We didn’t have food, we didn’t have shelter.
Last year, when Storm Carina arrived, it was late, around 9PM. I went outside with a megaphone, telling everybody to be ready, don’t go to sleep. I walk the streets, we take flashlights, and go to the lower down levels of our village to check the water levels.
The trees were shaking, dancing because of the rain, the storm, the strong winds. The roofs of the houses were already scattered. It’s not good if you’re outside, you’re not safe. We could hear the sound of the river – it was terrifying.
Last year one person in my village was killed by this typhoon. For many of us it will affect our work; we can’t travel, we are stranded in our village. We don’t have money to support our needs. It affects our mentality, we are worrying about where we will find food, when the government help will arrive.
For me, my belongings have been destroyed. My sofa – which I donated to Greenpeace’s powerful protest at Shell’s London offices – it was a place for guests to sit. Now we no longer have seats in the living room, it’s all destroyed. The water coming from the river was full of mud.
When I was a child I didn’t experience this kind of strong typhoon. But this is climate change. There are oil companies causing this damage, the governments are making it worse by cutting down trees with illegal logging – these are our flood defences. And plastics companies are responsible for the trash that is clogging our drains.
I’m just too worried now. Because of Typhoon Carina last year, the wall that protects us from the river was already destroyed. I don’t know what will happen to us here. We need help.
I want people in other countries to hear our stories, to make companies pay for what is happening.
Companies like this must be stopped. They don’t think about the welfare of ordinary people who are affected, they only care about profit. They need to pay for the damages to these people.