Bobby Lagsa/Inquirer Mindanao
ILIGAN CITY—“Even if it’s going to be difficult, we’ll stay here,” said a school teacher who called herself Virginia at San Lorenzo Ruiz Church.
The woman refused to give her real name out of shame for losing her house in Barangay (village) Hinaplanon when Tropical Storm “Sendong” struck at dawn Saturday.
As the Philippine Daily Inquirer left, Virginia stretched her legs, her back against the church’s iron grills, and took a nap in a cramped space she shared with her husband.
This is how most evacuees sleep in this church, which hosts some 200 families, or about 1,000 people, in its 1,000-square-meter hall. Because of congestion, the evacuees sleep on the same spot where they sit.
Fr. Nasser Zaragosa, the parish priest, said the evacuees ran to the church for shelter when Sendong hit the city over the weekend. Since Saturday, more and more people have come to the church.
Zaragosa said his parish would continue to attend to the needs of evacuees even if plans to transfer them to a nearby school pushed through.
Past noon Monday, when the Inquirer visited the church, most of the evacuees had not taken their lunch yet.
Zaragosa said the rations came late. The priest, in an effort to lighten the burden, cracked jokes with the evacuees.
More than 10,000 families or 50,000 individuals in 15 other evacuation centers were in the same situation.
CDO evacuees
In Cagayan de Oro City, officials said some 6,000 families or around 30,000 people were packed in six evacuation centers.
The City Central School gymnasium, where more than 10,000 people are staying, stinks as toilets are without water and there’s little ventilation.
Flood victims claimed they did not receive any warning to evacuate before the storm struck.
Hardest hit were Sitio Kala-Kala in Barangay Macasandig, and Barangays 13 and 15 in Isla de Oro, a strip of land in the river accessible only by a hanging bridge.
Leizel Paalam, a resident of Barangay 13 said she and her family were at home the whole day listening to radio stations for typhoon updates.
“All we knew was that there was a storm coming and it would hit Friday night,” she said.
Paalam said that several neighbors were monitoring other radio stations, and that the only news they received was from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
No official warning
She said no government official or employee went around the village to warn residents, contrary to claims by Emil Rana, officer of the city’s branch of the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Rana said no less than former Mayor Tinnex Jaraula went out to the streets to urge the people to evacuate.
Armin Cuenca, chief of the Oro Assistance for Life Emergencies and Rescue Team, also claimed that they warned people of the approaching storm. He blamed residents for their wait-and-see attitude.
Dennis Binolinao, also a resident of Isla de Oro, said they did not get any warning from the government.
“It’s a lie, they were not seen anywhere before the flood came,” Binolinao said.
Other residents from Isla de Oro shared the same sentiment: No warning came from the government or from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Local village watchmen sounded the alarm in Iligan, prompting residents to flee while the water was still knee-deep. But residents said the flooding that struck at dawn on Saturday was beyond their imagination. Flood waters rose swiftly in minutes.