As weather improves, condition in flood-hit areas still bad

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur—Genelyn Coguit and her family had just moved into the public school in their village of Angeles in La Paz town when she felt an extreme pain in her lower body on Jan. 16.

The 22-year-old mother of two was in her final trimester of pregnancy but she had no idea that the stress she endured from fleeing the rampaging water, which inundated her village and washed away all but four of 46 houses in the community, was that serious.

Coguit delivered her third child as water started to seep into the floor of the village’s school.

Her neighbors said the child even floated briefly as water rose inside the school compound that served as an evacuation center. A midwife and some villagers took the mother and her newborn to higher ground, where the baby’s umbilical cord was cut with a sharpened bamboo split.

Later, Coguit and her baby were taken to the Rural Health Unit at the La Paz town center for further medical care, where they have been staying to this day.

The Coguits appear to be well, health workers said, but their house in Angeles was among those that the flood destroyed. They needed a place to stay for the moment.

Joan Cris Gonzales, a government social worker in La Paz, said most of the displaced residents in Angeles had returned to their village and had set up temporary shelters made of nipa and wooden poles.

But she said the condition there was bad as food was scarce.

On Tuesday, the first relief mission led by acting Gov. Samuel Tortor arrived in Angeles. Tortor said they had to negotiate the rough waters upstream for more than two hours before reaching Angeles, a community of mostly Manobo lumad.

“We will find a way to get funds to help residents rebuild their homes. But for now, relief goods are our priority,” said board member Santiago Cane Jr., who accompanied the mission.

In Davao City, the local government said some P2.2 million worth of assistance had been sent to flood-stricken areas in different areas in Mindanao.

Among those set to receive cash assistance amounting to P250,000 each are three Agusan del Sur towns now under a state of calamity.

Earlier, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte asked the city council to respond to the needs of flood victims in neighboring areas.

She said the city can draw from its “quick response fund” to help those in need.

Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, chair of the council’s committee on ways and means, said the approval of the mayor’s request was also in line with the tradition of the city to extend assistance to calamity-affected areas.

“Because the city is seldom hit by typhoons, we usually extend assistance to those who were devastated by calamities. These areas just have to declare that they are under a state of calamity,” he said. —WITH A REPORT FROM JUDY QUIROS