Couple continues search for their kids lost in Iligan flood

TYPHOON victims of Iligan City would have to welcome the New Year looking for their missing loved ones.

Among of them are the Morales couple who lost  three young children when their house was hit by a big log at the height of Typhoon Sendong.

Still hoping to find them alive, spouses Aniano and Chona Morales posted  photos of their children—Jasper, 5; Jan Obed, 8; and Joan Eve, 13—on a plywood sheet in the  Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), one of the biggest evacuation centers for the typhoon.

Joan is graduating from elementary school on March 2012 and Chona is still hoping to find her alive according to Gigi Lopez, Chona’s sister.

Lopez said the whole family were on the roof of their house in barangay Barinaut, Iligan City, when a huge log hit it.

They were washed away by the flood. The next morning, only Chona was seen afloat near Bayog Island while Aniano was rescued. Aniano is a Baptist pastor assigned in Iligan City.

Despite the loss, Lopez said Aniano  continues to do his work with Chona.

As of Monday, Iligan City’s death toll  reached 400.

Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Lluch Cruz said most of the casualties were children.

Another team from the Cebu Provincial Engineering Office  left Cebu to replace the first team sent to Iligan City to assist in  clearing operations.

The crew members will have to spend their New Year away from  family, said Provincial Engineer Eulogio Pelayre.

Pelayre said the personnel sent to Iligan City are replaced every two weeks.

Restoration work in Iligan  may take more than a month./Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus