Bicol flood survivors face water, food scarcity

FIRST SIGNS OF SHORTAGE Containers form a long line leading to a water station in Libon town, Albay province, on Thursday as the region reels from the devastation wrought by Severe Tropical Storm “Kristine.” —MARK ALVIC ESPLANA

LEGAZPI CITY—When Severe Tropical Storm “Kristine” (international name: Trami) swept across Camarines Sur, the family of Ella Mae Baloncio and many others found themselves practically clinging to one another for dear life.

For three nights, Baloncio and 20 of her relatives, including six children, were stuck on the rooftop of her house after floodwaters engulfed the neighborhood.

They were finally rescued on Friday morning.

But even with the mortal threat now over, they may still have to cope with the conditions that awaited them at the evacuation site.

According to Ella Mae, some of them had to make do with a single can of sardines for lunch on Friday after arriving at the village government center in Barangay Panoypoyan, which was already packed with evacuees.

“When we were on the roof, my relatives got into the water and swam just to look for stores where we could buy food. We did the cooking using wood that we found floating in our area. It’s the same situation here in the evacuation center; we still need to buy some viands (“ulam”) to go with the free rice being given here,” she said in a phone interview on Friday.

Community pantries

Baloncio said they urgently needed more food, potable water and clothes, especially for the children.

But elsewhere in the calamity-stricken region, humanitarian efforts have begun even with the floodwaters yet to ebb.

In Naga City, a restaurant offered free refills of potable water to residents in Barangay Magsaysay. A limit was set per family so that more can get a share.

Former Vice President Leni Robredo, chair of the nonprofit Angat Buhay, said her group and several others were also sending water tankers to strategic areas across Naga.

She said they had also set up community pantries, providing hot meals and relief items in the different parts of Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay and Sorsogon.

Police Lt. Col. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, spokesperson for the Bicol police, said the regional command had deployed teams to bring desalination equipment to areas in need of potable water.

The deployment, which started on Thursday, has so far covered Oas town, one of the areas hit hardest by Kristine in Albay.

“We plan to expand the water distribution to other municipalities in dire need,” Calubaquib said.

Farm, infra damage

Calubaquib said most of the storm fatalities in the region either drowned or perished in landslides.

Nine people were listed among the injured as of this writing, while three were still missing.

Damage to the region’s agriculture and infrastructure was initially estimated at P98 million.

Lovella Guarin, spokesperson for the Bicol office of the Department of Agriculture, said farm losses stood at P29.4 million as of Thursday, affecting a total of 512 hectares that grew rice and corn in Masbate, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur provinces.

The figure is expected to rise as more flooded farms are yet to be covered by  the assessments, Guarin said.

In Masbate and Catanduanes, the Office of Civil Defense-Bicol estimated the damage to local infrastructure, mainly roads and bridges, at P9.3 million.

At least 788 villages were still flooded as of Friday morning, mostly in Albay and Camarines Sur.

In Sorsogon, the provincial government placed the overall damage at P60 million

According to Maria Teresa Destura, the provincial agriculturist, Sorsogon farmers had harvested 80 percent of their crops before Kristine struck.

Of the unharvested crops, 70 percent were affected by the storm, she added.