NBC News tells story of Woman Rescuing 27 Family Members from MacArthur, Leyte

NBC News in the US is reporting this story like it is extraordinary.  My take on it is that it is very ordinary — and all the more meaningful because of that.  It’s the story of a woman from Luzon who, after not hearing anything for three days, took a van and drove it through the chaos in Tacloban to the town of MacArther where her family lived. She found her family and rescued them.

How many Filipinos have done the same?

“I’m so happy and relieved of course that my family are finally safe,” she said by telephone from her home in Angeles City, north of Manila, adding, “I can’t depend on the government.”

Don’t get me wrong — all respect to Gina Sculley. She’s one of the heroes of Yolanda.  One of the almost countless heroes of Yolanda.  The story resonates for me not because she’s exceptional, but because she is one of many.  I would have preferred a tone of  “this is what countless Filipinos are going through”, rather than making it seem that she is so unique.

That said — where are the other stories like this?  I’m sure there are hundreds of them, if not more.  But I haven’t seen them.  If you know of stories like this that have been reported, please send me a link. And if they haven’t been reported but you know of them, send me an email or comment with the info.

Here is how NBC News presented the story in the US:

‘Like a movie’: Woman drives 600 miles to rescue 27 people from typhoon-torn village

After four days of hearing nothing from family in a typhoon-ravaged fishing village in the Philippines, Regina Balosca Sculley set off on her own rescue mission — an operation that would bring to safety 27 people piled into a rental van. “It’s unbelievable, it’s like a movie,” her husband, Michael Sculley, a retired U.S. service member who served two tours in the Philippines in the 1970s and 1980s, told NBC News on Sunday. “It was absolute elation to the point of bringing me to tears,” he added. A tired but happy Gina, 34, said she wishes she could have helped more people in her hometown, MacArthur in Leyte province, but she had to put her family first. “I’m so happy and relieved of course that my family are finally safe,” she said by telephone from her home in Angeles City, north of Manila, adding, “I can’t depend on the government.” Read the rest at NBC News.