Typhoon ‘Ruby’: ‘Please don’t, dear God’ is survivor’s prayer

By: Danny Petilla - 9 years ago

PERILOUS WATERS Waves churned by approaching Typhoon “Ruby” swamp and sink a small boat at Sula Port that the Olmeda family from Barangay Mataas, Bacacay, Albay, boarded on Friday. MARK ALVIC ESPLANA/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

PALO, Leyte—“Ayaw gad, Ginoo! (Please don’t, dear God).”

With these words of supplication, fisherman Elenito Bajas gazed skyward at the dark clouds threatening rain as he secured his boat to a post in front of his house along the coast of Barangay San Fernando here.

As Typhoon “Ruby” (international name: Hagupit) barreled toward Leyte and Samar provinces on Friday, Bajas remembered that he uttered the same words shortly before storm surges triggered by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) swept across the village on Nov. 8 last year, killing his wife Jocelyn, 51, 2-year-old son John Paul and father Ernesto, 65.

“With these same words, I asked God today to spare me and our village,” the

47-year-old widower said.

Even as his neighbors scurried about for last-minute chores before evacuating from their village, an eerie calm pervaded over the place as dogs barked and chickens clucked incessantly, making Bajas nervous.

“Just like before Yolanda, these animals were telling us that there was something wrong,” Bajas said.

“Women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities first,” Fr. Amadeo Alvero, communications director of the Archdiocese of Palo, said in a taped radio broadcast. He asked first responders who to prioritize during the rescue operation.

Alvero also pleaded with the town’s 65,000 residents to flee to higher grounds, asking them to go to the eight evacuation centers designated by town authorities.

“We have learned our lessons from Yolanda. We are doing our best not to be caught off guard this time,” Palo Vice Mayor Ronnan Christian Reposar said.

Spooked by the specter of yet another monster storm, residents remained noticeably calm as they went about their daily chores on Friday.

At the town center, most of the stores and business establishments closed early as the townsfolk prepared for another potentially deadly storm that could rival Yolanda, which killed more than 1,600 residents last year.

At the Leyte Academic Center in Pawing village, some 300 volunteers of the Korean military—all ready to leave the country this week after helping in rehabilitation work for a year—were hunkered down in a corner, ready to spring back to action to do rescue work if needed.

At the Rev. Cipriano V. Urgel Archdiocese Center at the back of the Palo Cathedral, newly arrived evacuees from the town’s coastal villages—who bore the brunt of Yolanda’s storm surges—registered themselves with youth volunteers to make sure everybody in the center was identified.

“Mandatory or not, we decided to evacuate just to be safe,” said Raymond Cayubit, a 22-year-old new father, as he played with his 2-month-old baby Michaelangelo at the evacuation center.

At the Palo Cathedral, well-wishers were toasting newly married couple Louie Dometita, 28, and Nicole Verzosa, 25, who had wanted to get hitched before the new typhoon came.

“They wanted to be in a state of grace, that’s why,” said Fr. Peter Ayaso, who presided over the Catholic wedding.

About a kilometer away, the funeral procession for 43-year-old Kent Alfon—who died of a stroke last Nov. 28—was winding down as it entered the Palo Municipal Cemetery.

At the Palo Maternity Center, midwife Dolor Fumar and nurse Jerra Callera welcomed two new baby girls, Quennie Barda and Jennifer Valera. They were born early Friday morning.

“While we pray that Ruby will go away, we are praying to high heavens for my new gift of life,” said 35-year-old mother Nancy Valera. She had just given birth to Jennifer, her fourth child with husband Joel Valera.

Back at the coastal village of San Fernando, Bajas whispered a few words of prayer as he said goodbye to his new house.

In a few minutes, the house will be vacant again because of the mandatory evacuation ordered by village chief Malvarosa Perote.

“Please, bless and protect my house, oh Lord. I hope it will still be here when Ruby goes away,” Bajas said, crying out to his neighbors to wait as he prepared to join them on a yet another uncertain flight.