In Samar town, ‘Ruby’ victims rely on luck

THE STRENGTH of Typhoon “Ruby” could be measured in what it did to this gymnasium in Can-Avid, Eastern Samar. RAFFY LERMA

STO. NIÑO, SAMAR—The case of Lilia Alburo, 66, and her family could explain why still many people won’t budge when government officials tell them to move out of harm’s way when a powerful storm comes—their belief in luck.

Consider Alburo, her husband Pablito, a stroke sufferer, and their four grandchildren as lucky, though shaken.

When Typhoon “Ruby” crossed Eastern Visayas early Sunday, Alburo and her family had believed they had prepared enough and refused to join their neighbors in a school that had been turned into an evacuation center.

Besides, their house is on an elevated section of this town.

But when Ruby struck, Alburo said she realized the storm was nothing like she had ever seen or heard before. She said she thought Ruby was even more powerful than Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” a 300-kph storm that devastated a large part of Eastern Visayas.

“We heard the roaring sound of wind,” she said. She had been listening to radio broadcasts and knew that Ruby had descended upon her community.

Yet Alburo and her family refused to join 985 families in a public school in the village of San Jose that had been turned into an evacuation center. She said she believed her house could withstand the storm and is safe from storm surges because of its elevated location.

Ruby’s winds, however, grew stronger, battering the walls of Alburo’s house. The rain grew stronger, too.

Alburo and her family started to get scared, but by that time, they could no longer leave their house to go to the school because the wind and the rain were too strong.

They huddled in a corner of their house to wait the storm out.

Alburo said she considered her and her family lucky because, unlike their neighbors, they had food to eat.

In a town with a population of 13,504, food supply is not steady, though. Residents have to buy food elsewhere.

The town had prepared for Ruby but it was not enough. The food supply that had been delivered to the town before the storm struck was insufficient.

Supply fell short when the Coast Guard, starting on Dec. 3, stopped all sea travel, including boats that could have delivered food to the town.

On Monday, more than 4,000 food packs arrived from the provincial government. “We are very thankful that help finally reached our town,” said Mayor Lilia Conejos.

“I was very afraid that the people would go hungry,” said the mayor.

To have food seemed to make the people, including the family of Alburo, feel safe. Alburo, however, has only one problem left.

“Our problem now is we don’t have fish because the fishermen didn’t sail for days due to the rough seas,” said Alburo.