Manila Bay slums first in line for aid after ‘Glenda’

MANILA, Philippines–Eleven barangays (villages) and districts in Manila were declared calamity areas after they bore the brunt of Typhoon Glenda, which whipped the metropolis with 150-kph winds on Wednesday.

A city council resolution approved on Thursday declared Baseco Compound, Isla Puting Bato, Parola, and Barangays 20, 105, 117, 275, and 286 as calamity areas.

These barangays and districts, mostly within the Port Area, are home to thousands of informal settlers living in shanties and cramped homes either facing Manila Bay or built along the banks of the Pasig River.

Residents fled their houses for safer ground on Wednesday morning as Glenda battered the city and knocked down bayside homes made of light materials.

The houses were toppled mainly by the wind as earlier forecasts of storm surges, or giant waves generated by the typhoon, did not materialize, according to Johnny Yu, head of the city’s disaster response office.

Meanwhile, Barangays 432, 598, and 602—inland villages in the Sampaloc and Santa Mesa areas—were also declared calamity areas after a number of houses suffered major damage from Glenda’s strong winds.

The resolution authorized the local government to release part of its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund to aid residents affected by the typhoon.

The City Hall said there were no reported typhoon-related deaths in the city but around 2,500 families, or about 10,000 persons, most of them from the Port Area, had to be evacuated.–Nathaniel R. Melican