YELLOW ROPE | PHILIPPINES

JESSICA ROJERO

Jessica’s family and three other families had to evacuate to a safer location in the midst of Super Typhoon Yolanda. As they made their way to a nearby house, the yellow rope prevented them from being swept away by the raging storm.

The strong winds and storm surge brought by Super Typhoon Haiyan damaged Jessica’s home, leaving her family and three other families exposed to debris and other hazards.

Realizing that staying would be more dangerous for them, Jessica made the difficult decision to evacuate even during the storm. To avoid being swept away, she tied a yellow rope from her house to the one where they were seeking refuge.

After the super typhoon, Jessica and her community have been actively making efforts to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis through mangrove planting and other community-based disaster risk reduction solutions. But despite these efforts, big oil companies—the biggest contributors to climate change—continue to profit from their destructive business practices.

Object of Memory

Jessica would forever treasure that yellow rope, their lifeline during Super Typhoon Haiyan. More than a decade after the super typhoon, Jessica held on to the yellow rope again. But this time, it wasn’t to save herself and three families from a super typhoon, but to stop climate injustices and protect the people from the threat of another catastrophic Haiyan fueled by the worsening climate crisis.