Remembering Flight 3407

Five years ago tonight, I was working in the sports office of a Buffalo television station when one of our "regulars" called and said that a plane had crashed near his home in Clarence. I took that information to our news desk and was told they had little information but a crew was on the way. I went back to my sports office and tuned in the live shot, waiting for the pictures of what I assumed to be a small plane crash to be sent back to the newsroom. When the crew arrived and a picture came up, I said, "Oh my God, that's a Continental tail." The rest of the evening, and really the next several days, were a blur as we learned more about the Crash of Flight 3407.

Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Volunteer Sister Martha Olszewski got a call about a small plane crash that evening. She was eventually asked to report to the Senior Center on Broadway, which was where the Family Support Center--a private location for family members of the 50 people on-board Flight 3407 to receive information--was set up, and where she worked through the evening until 10am the next morning.

"It was just talking to family members about loved ones on the plane," Sr. Martha said. "Just doing my 'Sister Martha' thing, serving coffee and donuts, talking to the people who needed it."

Flight 3407 Memorial in Clarence Center, NY

That was Sr. Martha's only real contact with the family in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. She spent the next 14 days working at the Clarence Fire Hall, supporting coroners, fire, police and other first responders that were on the scene. In the five year since Flight 3407, she has worked with the family support group, and says this anniversary is difficult on everybody.

"Every time you come to a significant year, it becomes more intense. Five years seems like yesterday," she says. "They have worked through some of their grief, but there's still an empty hole they're dealing with."

Both Sister Martha and NYS Disaster Mental Health Lead Tara Hughes will speak about their efforts as part of the Red Cross response to the tragedy during tonight's vigil to remember the victims of Flight 3407.

"The families designed this ceremony not only to remember the lives lost, but also to thank everyone for their assistance during their time of need," Sr. Martha said.

The thoughts of all of us at the Red Cross are with the families of Flight 3407 on this difficult day, and we thank the volunteers like Sr. Martha and Tara who allow us to be a small part of the supporting community.

Winnie's Philippine Relief Diary Part 2

Editors note: Our own Winnie Romeril is currently in the Philippines, volunteering with the Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts. Below is part two of a running diary Winnie is sharing about her experience there. Click here for part one. 

Today I sat with Tito Aure and Lady B. Tito is a university professor who sits on the local Red Cross board and acts as their MC at important events, such as today’s visit of Richard Gordon, Chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross. The microphone Tito grips is repaired with cellophane tape and the cord is woven through his fingers in a special pattern, the only way it will work. “This microphone is a survivor of Yolanda, just like us,” he flashes a wry smile, using the name Philippinos call last November’s killer-storm Typhoon Haiyan.

Tito sent his family to Manila before Yolanda hit. He stayed in Tacloban, working late into the night pre-landfall with hundreds of other Red Cross volunteers packaging food and other relief items for distribution post-landfall. “We knew it was a big storm coming, but we did not understand this term ‘storm surge.’ It’s even hard for us to say, ‘storm surge,’” he slowly enunciates.

“Lady B” as she is known on the air, a.k.a. Evelyn Baccol, owns a local TV channel in Tacloban, Anaton Channel 7, AAC-24. She quickly agrees about the confusing term. “We reported on the storm surge, but no one really understood how it would look. If they had explained to us that it would be like a tidal wave or a tsunami, we would have reported it that way. Then the people would have understood and moved inland. Lives could have been saved.” The storm death toll stands at 6,200 with 1,785 still missing.

Lady B lost all her possessions in the storm- in her home and, it seems more importantly to her, at her office, including all her equipment for broadcasting, interviewing and video recording. She doesn’t talk about the night Yolanda made landfall. I can only imagine why. Harrowing accounts of narrowly escaping from fast-rising ocean waters in your living room and treading water in the dark while your neighbors corpses float by are practically commonplace here in Tacloban. “I was so badly traumatized I could not report on the situation.” She left the city for a while to stay with her parents in Samar, the island to the north. “I am back now, but I still go home often. Having family is so comforting,” she says holding a professional grade camera in one hand, a gift from her daughter who works in Oklahoma.

I ask, “May I take a photo? I want my friends to meet you.”

They lean in for the shot. A pink banner in solidarity with Tacloban from Red Cross chapters across the Philippines serves as a backdrop. “Tell them we are smiling, not like victims, but as survivors. We have survived and we will rebuild,” Tito says. “Please tell everyone you talk to how grateful we are for their prayers, support, every little show of solidarity has meant so much to us. Thank them all.”

“Tell them we are smiling, not like victims, but as survivors. We have survived and we will rebuild,” Tito Aura of the Red Cross says.

Red Cross chapters across the Philippines signed this banner to show their solidarity with Tacloban, ground zero for Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda.