TACLOBAN, Philippines, November 11, 13(LifeSiteNews.com) – Where there’s life, there’s always hope. And hope came amidst the unimaginable devastation, pain, and loss caused by Typhoon Haiyan, as a baby girl was born in a makeshift shelter at Tacloban’s ravaged airport.
Mom and baby’s survival is being called just short of a miracle. Mother Emily Ortega, 21, already in pre-labor, had to swim and cling to a pole for her life as the Typhoon, with winds up to 170 mph, swept through the area. She and her husband Jobert managed to find safety in the airport a few hours before having the baby.
Victims in the crowded airport sent up a cheer at the announcement of the healthy birth of Bea Joy Sagales, according to Associated Press.
Emily said her daughter is named after her mother Beatrice, who went missing in what is being called the country’s worst storm on record.
Beatrice means “one who brings joy and blesses.”
“She is my miracle. I had thought I would die with her still inside me when high waves came and took us all away,” Emily said, according to Daily Mail.
With the new birth comes news if some 10,000 local residents believed to be killed by the storm, with emergency crews expecting the death toll to rise substantially as they make their way to remote areas.
Bea Joy’s birth is a testimony that even in the most tragic of circumstances, new life brings new hope and new beginnings.
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