Owns IPhone4S, got "drown" during typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan 11/2013); doesn't work anymore but unit still looks brand new, what to do?

Question

I have an iPhone unit - Iphone 4S, had it since 2012 through a local telecommunications provider (Globe Phils). My unit which has a 16G memory was running on IOS 7. When typhoon Yolanda struck our city (Tacloban) my iPhone 42 was one among the "casualty". I couldn't save it on time when sea water rushed into our house, taking my family by surprise. I was using my iPhone 4s to monitor news and weather update at that time. When the power in our place went out, i unconsciously put the unit on top of our dining table, unaware that the storm surge will reach our place (about 5km from the city proper but about a km from the nearest shoreline). While the water was still chest high i remember my phone and tried searching for it. i used my feet/toes literally to find it on the ground (floor) until i finally reached for it in one of the rooms downstairs. When i finally got hold of it, it was really, really soak in water and mud (yes the water was muddy, learning later on that it was sea water that drown some of the houses in our city).
I sun dried it immediately. I tried having it repaired in Manila after about two weeks since the storm, but the repair center said that it was beyond repair.
My iPhone 4S looks good as new, no scratch whatsoever (i covered it with skin in all the time i was using it until Yolanda came). yet it doesn't work. A said reality.
What should i do with the unit? I have already a new unit iPhone 6+.
Anticipating a prompt reply. Thank you and more power.
Ms. Valuis

Answer 1

There really isn't much to say. Water damage isn't covered by Apple's warranties.
Total submersion in muddy seawater will cause the components to corrode terribly. It needed to be flushed out before the seawater had any chance to dry - the salts & impurities are what corrode the components. Washing in pure clean water may have helped at the time but 2 years after the event is far too long to expect that to work.
The repair centre are probably correct - it is dead & it would be simper to replace the entire unit, sorry.
Did you have backups in iCloud or iTunes? If those are safe you can restore the data to another device, otherwise that will be unreadable on the device.
Your only option would be to contact your insurance company or possibly the company that you purchased it from but I expect typhoons may not be covered by many insurance policies or warranties.
I hope you are getting back to normal after this terrible event, good luck.