Psychological scars will remain long with Sendong survivors

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines—Lorebel Casillano survived the deluge that swept her family’s house in Bayug Island due to tropical storm Sendong.

The wounds inflicted on her legs and arms from debris eventually washed into the sea by raging floodwaters are now healed. But the psychological scars remained.

At the height of the tragedy, Casillano was carried away by strong currents and tumbled several times as the rampaging floodwaters met the battering waves of Iligan Bay at the mouth of Mandulog river.

“No matter how comfortable the bed I sleep on, when I close my I eyes, I see water,” related Casillano who has not found her 10-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.

Since Thursday, groups like the Mindanao Emergency Relief Network (MERN) have been helping survivors cope with their tragic experiences, and guide them into recovery mode.

According to Tina Lomoljo, executive director of non-government Balay Integrated Rehabilitation for Total Human Development (BIRTH-DEV) Inc., said they have conducted at least three psychosocial support sessions among children.

Lomoljo said given the shortage of skilled facilitators, MERN has been prioritizing children because they have been proven to be the most vulnerable to psychological trauma arising from disasters.

At present, BIRTHDEV has four skilled facilitators. On Friday, MERN trained a handful of volunteer facilitators who would hopefully increase its capacity to hold more of such sessions.

On Bayug island, families who lost relatives and kin to the flood are expected to gather on Sunday in a clearing near a swathe of debris and mud where they believed their loved ones could be buried.

They will light candles, eat together, and hopefully start to move on.

The stench of death is still prevalent in the area, which bounds the island’s Puroks 2 and 4.

“This smell could be from animals and people,” said 54-year old Rosito Buhion who frequents the area everyday to look for his wife and 18 other members of his extended family who went missing from the flood.

So far, some 21 decomposing bodies were recovered from the area by Philippine Army retrieval teams equipped with a K-9 dog.

The pile of waist-deep mud dumped into the area by the floodwaters and the debris have been making the recovery efforts difficult. The Army team expects the retrieval to speed up as the debris are cleared.

Lucy Bado, the 59-year old widow whose house in Purok 7 served as Noah’s ark to her neighbors during the flood, will be joining the gathering.

Some 24 relatives, mostly nephews and nieces, are still missing as a result of the flood.

“It is very difficult to remember. But we need to come to terms with it and look forward,” said a teary-eyed Bado.