Waves batter village in Davao; families evacuate

DAVAO CITY -- Huge waves pounded a sitio in Matina Aplaya, this city, Tuesday evening, damaging three shanties and sending 24 other households fleeing to safety.

Neighboring areas, however, were oblivious to such swelling of the sea.

Jose Gavan III, a village councilman, said one of the three houses at Imburnal in Shanghai Village was wrecked while the two others are still in a repairable state.

"Ang uban balay natanggal ang dingding, rooftop, nangaguba ang mga tulay nila paingon sa ilang balay tungod sa dakong balod. Tulo maoy klarong naguba ang balay unya ang isa gidala jud sa tubig (Some of the houses lost walls, roofs, and the wooden bridges to their houses were also destroyed. Three houses bore more damage than the rest, one of which was swept away)," Gavan said.

Sharon Mae Castro, barangay hall secretary, said the affected residents were temporarily evacuated to the barangay hall. They returned to their houses around 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Residents said there was no warning, the waves just swelled.

Matina Aplaya village, Davao City map (Source: https://maps.google.com.ph/)

"Dako jud kaayo ang balod, lampas tao iyang gitas-un tapos paglabay ana mura’g kaunon ang mga balay diri. Makuyawan jud bisan kinsa kay wa man unta nag-ulan human ato ka kusog ang balod (The waves were higher than a man, when these hit the shore it was as if the waves would eat our houses; anyone would have been scared because the weather was good)," said 46-year-old Gina Torio.

"Gi-anod tawon among mga gamit. Kalit ra man pud to nga panghitabo uy (Our belongings were swept away by the waters. It happened very fast)," said Imelda Estoque, 42.

The ocean started to swell around 7 p.m. she said.

Neighboring areas like Times Beach Barangay 76-A Bucana and Agdao Beach did not report any such swelling.

In a television interview, Eleazar Jorgio, science research assistant at the Davao City office of the Philippine Volcanology and Seismology, said the earthquake off Sarangani in Davao del Sur Tuesday afternoon had nothing to do with the giant waves.

Based on the weather forecast of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, as of 4 a.m. Wednesday, there was just a Shallow Low Pressure Area (SLPA) at 280 kilometers east of Infanta, Quezon.

A similar swelling of the sea happened last July 4 in Times Beach, Barangay 76-A Bucana; Agdao Beach, Sta. Cruz, Barangay Leon Garcia; and Punta Dumalag, Barangay Matina Aplaya, wherein more than 50 families were affected. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)