As three mascots entered the gymnasium of Iligan City East Central School on Wednesday afternoon, school children stood in jubilation.
The din of laughter and happiness belie the tragedy most of them survived more than three weeks earlier when rampaging floodwaters as tall as their houses engulfed their communities.
But many others may not be as jovial as the children. Last week, a flood survivor in Cagayan de Oro took his life, believed to be because of depression.
A week after the floods, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) sounded off the need for mental care services for flood survivors.
So far, such services have reached some 6,000 people in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan based on the Jan. 10 situation report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Dr. Eric Talens, of the Philippine General Hospital and part of a 22-member University of the Philippines mission sent to Iligan days after the tragedy last December, also said they saw signs of posttraumatic stress disorder among the flood survivors.
So, how should one go on after a disaster as enormous as that which struck the two Northern Mindanao cities in the early hours of Dec. 17?
The question is not easy to answer. For most of over 120,000 families, accounting for 1.14 million people, throughout provinces that had taken the brunt of floods, mudslides and landslides on that day, the disaster completely altered their lives.
This is especially true for those in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro where the damage and destruction from the disaster were concentrated.
NDRRMC said some P1.4 billion in infrastructure and crops were wiped out by the flash floods. A total of 51,721 houses were either damaged or destroyed.
Until today, some 80,025 families or 429,309 people are dependent on humanitarian aid for daily survival.
Perception
Instead of happy reunions during the holidays, the disaster brought anxious goodbyes and moments of grief and mourning.
Yet, the answer to the hard question may be hidden in each of the persons whose lives Tropical Storm “Sendong” radically overturned.
“The key is in the way we perceive the incident which, in turn, influences our actions and decisions,” said Tina Lomoljo, executive director of nongovernment organization Balay Integrated Rehabilitation for Total Human Development Inc. which lost its office to the floods.
Lomoljo, whose organization is part of the Mindanao Emergency Relief Network (MERN), has organized at least three teams of volunteers to help provide psychosocial support services to the survivors in Iligan where more than 91,000 people were affected by the flood, over 23,000 of whom still stay at the evacuation centers.
Because of the massive demand for psychosocial support, MERN has partnered with another nongovernment group, Balay Rehabilitation Center, raising the number of volunteers to 31.
Some other groups like Balsa Mindanao and Ginhawa conduct play and art therapy sessions among children.
Age groups
Lomoljo said they categorize recipients of psychosocial care into age groups: below 5 years old, 5 to 6, 7 to 8, 9 to 10, 11 to 12, 13 to 17, and adults.
She added that this categorization is based on age-specific attributes like being at the developmental stage, the demonstration of evolving capacities, and the propensity to lean on peers.
On Wednesday morning, teachers at Iligan City Central School picked from among their Grade 1 pupils for a one-hour psychosocial support session that began with a game.
The children sing and act together with the facilitators and at a cue, chose a partner to whom they would introduce themselves.
From simply exchanging names, the task continues: asking where one lives to one’s favorite food. Initially, facilitators patiently help out the shy ones in order to encourage them to speak up. But they eventually came out of their shells.
After the game, children squat on a 10-square meter tarpaulin for a chat about their common tragic experience.
Rising sun
Next, they were asked to portray in a bond paper, using crayons and pencils, what they can remember on the day the disaster struck. Many drew floating houses, drowning people, dark sky.
One stood out among them: A drawing of a rising sun.
In the process of doing their illustrations, the children noisily exchanged tales among each other about how they escaped the tragedy.
After a few minutes, some expressed sadness about lost toys and school things, and house appliances like a television set.
According to Lomoljo, it is best for people to open up and pour out their feelings about these tragic experiences in a group so that they feel there are other people apart from themselves that they can turn to for comfort and listening ears.
Trevor Clark, of the United Nations Children’s Fund, said the act of sharing experiences helps restore people’s ability to express themselves which is a necessary step toward coming to terms with a terrible incident.
Anxiety with rain
When asked whether they sleep well at night, many children said they still experience dreaming of floating houses.
Most of them also said they are anxious when it rains.
“I will continue praying that God would not let the flood happen again,” said one child.
Daphne Macatimbol, a MERN facilitator, said in the process of conducting the sessions, they spot participants whom they think need “more intense attention” so that they can be subjected to follow through interventions.
Lomoljo said in such cases, they can be visited in their homes or temporary shelters, or referred to psychologists for professional attention.
But as in all tragic stories, there are accompanying comedies like the the tale of a 5-year-old child from Bayug Island whose family now stays at the Iligan tent city.
At the height of the flood, the child’s family climbed an acacia tree through the roof of their house which floated toward it. While clinging to a branch, the child prayed that “God would stop the rise of the water” because he didn’t want to get wet.
He also promised to his grandma he will not urinate because that can add to the water’s rise.
Resolve
Aside from coming to terms with the tragedy, Lomoljo said survivors need to be helped to “account for what they still have and be thankful for after everything has happened” so that they can overcome helplessness.
Among the children, Lomoljo cited the need to restore their opportunities for play for them to get over the tragedy fast.
This is why MERN has actively advocated for the allocation of “child spaces” in evacuation centers, or developing these in the new communities where the survivors are currently staying.
Ocha estimated that there are some 123,3000 affected school children aged 3-15 years in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities alone.
From doing sessions in the evacuation centers, Lomoljo said they will soon be reaching out to survivors who chose to remain in their shattered communities.
She emphasized that the sessions must continue even as the survivors are already relocated to permanent housing units.
“The true essence of rebuilding their lives is in coming to terms with the tragedy and having a resolve to move forward,” Lomoljo explained.
Asked how his family is getting along their new life at the tent city, Danilo Verano said: “We have no choice but to start from scratch. At least we are alive.”
Maybe, this was what one child meant when, during a psychosocial session, she sketched a rising sun.