While Dr David Jaskey was in Cebu City in the Philippines waiting for Typhoon Haiyan to pass he experienced an earthquake aftershock, a 5.4 on the Richter scale. On his return to Iowa Sunday he was delayed at O’Hare Airport in Chicago by tornados. Those things, the earth shaking, a typhoon of historic proportions, and November tornadoes weren’t the most dramatic part of his vacation. “The most dramatic part was the outpouring of people supporting my wife and concern for me,” he said in a Tuesday evening interview.
Lisa Jaskey had posted on Facebook her concern for her husband. He had left Iowa Nov. 1 for a diving vacation in the Philippines. She received word Wednesday, Nov. 6, that he had been evacuated from Malapascua, a very small island north of Cebu, to Cebu City in advance of the typhoon. She had no other information from him for several days. While news of one of the most powerful typhoons ever filled news sources, Lisa Jaskey wondered if her husband was safe. On Facebook, the messages of support and prayers continued through the weekend until finally she heard he was safe and had continued his vacation at a second dive location as planned.
The Jaskeys’ passion is diving and Lisa more often goes with Dave. This time, Lisa stayed in Jefferson because of schedule conflicts. Dave flew into Cebu City, took a bus to the northern end of the island, and then a boat to Malapascua, which he says is about the size of Jefferson. The attraction there is thresher sharks. According to Jaskey, Malapascua is the best place to photograph thresher sharks, and underwater photography is his reason for diving. He and a dive friend, a rocket scientist from Boston, planned to dive four or five times a day. On morning dives their photo subjects were thresher sharks. On afternoon dives, their photo subjects were “critters,” as Jaskey calls them, nudibranch, very small, “absolutely beautiful” shell-less snails, “butterflies of the sea.”
They had done two dives on Wednesday when they were told to pack up and prepare to leave; a class 4 typhoon was on its way. They returned to Cebu City, which is a modern city about four times larger than Des Moines. They stayed in a cement block motel. On Friday, motel staff put tape across the windows. The storm arrived at about 3 pm and had passed by 5 pm. Jaskey said it was like “a really bad thunderstorm.” They saw no damage. Typhoon Haiyan passed to the north of Cebu City.
The second destination for the planned vacation was Anilao, south of Manilla. They were able to arrange a flight there on Saturday (Nov. 9), a couple days ahead of schedule. Jaskey said there was a lot of debris in the water—shoes, diapers, pieces of wood—and the water was churned up and muddy, but that didn’t bother him. He still found a rare prize. “I’ve been diving for 47 years and I’ve never seen a Bobbitt worm,” he said. Bobbitt worms are frightful looking predators that live on the ocean floor. They can grow to 10 feet. He was able to photograph six of them.
It was Monday, Veterans Day, before he was able to get word to Lisa via an email routed through friends in Hong Kong that he was safe and continuing his vacation.
He said they heard no news from Malapascua immediately after the typhoon, but they later learned a 21-foot storm surge had destroyed virtually all the buildings on the small island. The evacuation of diving tourists had been prudent.
It wasn’t until he got back to the States that he heard estimates of fatalities and damage from Typhoon Haiyan. He said that outbreaks of cholera, typhoid, and even polio in the ravaged country concern him greatly. “I’d encourage everyone to support the churches, organizations like Rotary, the Red Cross and any group providing aid there,” he said.
He calls himself a “news junkie,” and recorded the NBC Nightly News every evening he was gone. He hasn’t yet watched the recordings. “I’m going to be curious to see what the American media was showing of the storm,” he said.
