SANTA FE - On one side, the Anika Island Resort faces a glittering stretch of azure sea. On the other three, it faces the remains of homes and coconut palms minced by wind into the white sand.

The hotel is the only one of 32 to avoid demolition by super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in Santa Fe, an idyllic tourist town on Bantayan island flattened by one of the world's biggest storms.

The destruction here reflects the damage to the tourism industry in many parts of the Philippines since the category-5 super typhoon struck on Friday. Hundreds of tourists have been stranded for days by the storm, which has killed thousands of people and leveled the coastal city of Tacloban.

The scale of the storm and its carnage have made for a week of international headlines, frightening away tourists across central Philippines and triggering mass cancellations at resorts, though the record-breaking typhoon struck only six of the country's 7,107 islands.

Resorts at major destinations such as Boracay, Palawan, Cebu and Bohol, however, have seen cancellation rates of 30 to 40 percent since the storm hit, said Cesar Cruz, president of the Philippine Tour Operators Association in Manila.

"The cancellations are still coming in," he said.

Just three days ago, more than 400 tourists from 26 countries were stranded in Palawan alone, turning the scuba-diving center with its dozens of gorgeous islands into a terrifying travel nightmare. Many were evacuated.

Anika's owner, Nelson Yuvallos, attributes the survival of his hotel to divine intervention, after he "prayed like Moses" that winds of nearly 315 km per hour (195 miles per hour) would part around it. Across Santa Fe, local officials say 95 percent of buildings were severely damaged.

"Tourism is very important here. It's the only income," Yuvallos said. About 4,000 tourists come to the island, just off the northern tip of Cebu, in a regular month, peaking to 10,000 during the northern winter, he said.

In some ways, local tourism has been lucky. The ferries that run to the mainland were back in operation within two days of the storm, taking the remaining weary tourists with them.

"It's like people are thinking all the Philippines is gone. If you look at the international media that is the impression you get," Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez told Reuters. "But tourists who were meant for one place have been diverted to another and most of this has been successful."

Bringing them back, however, will be a challenge.

A squeeze on tourism

Hotel owners have agreed to try to rebuild by December. Too much of a delay, and tourists will pick another palm-fringed paradise - one where twisted fallen powerlines have not been repurposed for drying the clothes of people living in the open.

The mayor, Jose Titing Esgana, is less optimistic. "Rebuilding by December is a very high expectation," he said.

Esgana said tourism may only be able to recover in time for Easter, when the island famously fills up with Catholic tourists who come to feast on pork, thanks to a belief that the island was granted papal license in the 19th century to eat red meat on Good Friday. In the meantime, up to 400 people will be out of work.

Tourism is a growing business in the Philippines, where the number of visitors climbed to 4.3 million last year from 3.9 million the year before. It generates about 5.9 percent of the fast-growing $250 billion economy.

The government has set an ambitious target to more than double tourist arrivals in the next three years to 10 million. Typhoon Yolanda undoubtedly makes that harder.

"It might temper the trajectory a little bit," said Jun Neri, an economist at the Bank of the Philippine Islands. "But it should be able to bounce back in the latter part of the first half of next year."

He expects some of the billions of dollars in reconstruction that awaits the Philippines to offset tourism losses. German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis has estimated the typhoon could cost the country as much as $19 billion in reconstruction.

"Mercy for my children"

In Sante Fe, almost all the fishing boats have been destroyed and the chickens - which supply the whole province with eggs - are being killed to feed locals.

Food aid is trickling through to the people, but so far no shelter or reconstruction material has arrived for more than 6,400 displaced families. The destruction is so complete that "the structure is totally zero," Esgana said. "There is nothing to reconstruct with."

Arsolin Ofiasa is trying to do just that. The small shack where he lives with his pregnant wife and five of his seven children was almost completely flattened on Friday, saved only by a sturdy wooden cabinet.

Ofiasa is now salvaging the nails from wrecked planks from his house in the hope of using them again to hammer a firmer structure into place.

"All I want is to be able rebuild a house and live decently, and I hope for mercy for my children."

Dear Friends,

We have received these prayer concerns for the Philippines from one of the Christian leaders here. Let's please keep these concerns in our hearts before God during the coming days.

Thanks for praying,

John Robb

Thank you for your messages, prayers and concern for our current situation in the Philippines. As you know, a super typhoon named Haiyan (deadlier than Hurricane Katrina that had swept the US) ravaged the provinces in the central part of our archipelago last Friday. These cities are a plane ride away from Manila, so those of us live in the capital city are safe. Before the typhoon struck, Christians were praying that the Lord would change the typhoon's course. As it was however, fierce winds and tsunami-like waves totally whipped these provinces, killing an estimated 10,000 helpless victims. Warnings and preparations for evacuation and relief work were no match for the winds and rain. Many cities now look like no man's land.

But our Lord is sovereign over all; He never fails us and we believe that as a nation, this is an opportunity to show our spirit of unity, deep faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and demonstrate our selfless giving. We have not seen in our history such a generous outpouring of aid and supplies from within the country (through the private sector), and from countries around the world, (some of them erstwhile 'enemies' of the Philippines). Everywhere, we see people wanting to help out and give their support. Please pray with us through the weeks and months ahead of relief, rescue and rehabilitation work, on behalf of the millions of Filipinos who are helpless victims of this tragedy.

These are our specific prayer requests:

1. Pray that our Lord will give an extraordinary amount of wisdom, steadfast spirit, keen insight, quickness to respond and political will among our national, regional and local government officials in mapping out and implementing a sustained plan of action for relief, rescue and rehabilitation. Pray that the Lord will give them the mind of Joseph who knew how to direct the people when the seven years of famine struck Egypt. Such was his wisdom that no one lacked. Pray that the millions of aid will be wisely distributed and allocated.

2. Pray for our Compassion Philippines Rapid Response Team to be able to carry out relief assistance and to provide comfort, prayers and support to our afflicted children, their families and local churches. Pray for the safety and health of Noel (our Ph Country Director), Toyditz (our Asia Regional Advocacy Director), and the rest of the Rapid Response Team as they are in Cebu and Leyte for a few days to carry out the relief work.

3. Pray that Satan, the Enemy will be 'padlocked' so that unscrupulous people/thieves/robbers will not be able to carry out looting, robberies, or resort to killing; pray that no corrupt officials will be able to lay their hands on any of the relief money or goods for their own selfish motives.

4. Pray that the Lord will give our Filipino brothers and sisters with unwavering faith in the Lord that they will receive timely help in terms of food, water, medicines and a safe place to sleep for the weeks and months ahead.

5. Pray that the US military personnel sent to help will be able to quickly train Filipino local officials so that all (and not only a few) affected towns and provinces will receive timely relief help. Pray that the aircraft sent to airlift goods and supplies will be safe and will help bring food especially to those towns where people have not eaten a single food since Friday.

6. Pray for miracles of healing to those who are ill, and for thousands and millions of Filipinos in central Philippines to come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior through the mighty work of the Holy Spirit. Pray that the body of Christ in the Philippines, represented by the thousands of local churches will be a source of sustained blessing to the typhoon victims, in word and deed.

7. Pray that as we see the rehab work successfully accomplished, we will be able to declare: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20,21)

With sincerest thanks,

Menchit