Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Typhoon survivors struggle to salvage pieces of lives and belongings (3:15 p.m.)
BINITAYAN, Philippines -- Christian Malsi used to admire the orchids and ornamental cactuses his aunt had been growing under the shade of a mango tree, within sight of the Mayon volcano.
A powerful typhoon last week changed the view forever: his house, like most others in Binitayan, a riverside community in Daraga town in Albay province, was buried up to the roof under the tons of loose black sand and mud unleashed by rains.
Gone too is the mango tree, toppled, leafless, its bark and branches shredded in pieces, like the lives of more than 1,000 people feared dead in landslides that ravaged the region.
Official figures showed 526 dead, 1,000 injured and 740 missing. More than 1 million people in 13 eastern provinces were affected, and about 20,000 have gone to evacuation centers.
"It's all gone," Malsi, a 20-year-old hardware shop bagger, said as he stood on the top of the wall of his living room, where the roof used to be. "We can't live here anymore."
Like many of his neighbors, he, his younger sister, aunt and uncle saved only their lives and the clothes on their backs.
Neighbor Joel Bejo, meanwhile, was digging like a treasure hunter, gingerly removing the sand from around a metal TV stand. He had earlier salvaged his TV and a few clothes. Standing in the middle of a 3-meter (10-foot) hole, he was searching for his wife's sewing machine.
"If we don't find it, I won't have any means of livelihood," his wife, Salvacion, said.
Bejo, who worked as a dyer at a wig exporting company, said he grabbed his 3-year-old daughter while his wife took hold of their 8-year-old son as they struggled against surging waters to make it to higher ground on a nearby highway, clinging to toppled electrical power lines.
"The water was rising so fast," he said, motioning with the edge of his palm, until it reached his chest. That's when he decided to clear out.
Crescensia Bermejo said her 92-year-old grandfather drowned in the flood after he lost his grip on his son as they were swept away.
The grandfather's body was found the following day. Neighbors had to bring down Bermejo's father who was perched on a tree near their home where his pet dog, Prince, saved himself by climbing.
"My father has been traumatized. He can't even talk about it," she said, sitting with Prince in front of the grandfather's white casket under a makeshift blue tarpaulin tent.
Scientists said Typhoon Durian dumped more rains than any other cyclone since 1967. The water unleashed tons of volcanic debris that has been building up since past eruptions as rampaging walls of mud and boulders obliterated helpless villages, felling nearly every structure, including dikes and bridges.
Tornadoes that formed near the eye of the typhoon added to the destruction, leaving stunned survivors with little else but bare hands to pick up the pieces of their lives.(AP) |
