News: Flood after flood, Botolan victims kept from returning home, are now restless

Flood after flood, Botolan victims kept from returning home, are now restless

Written by Henry Empeño / Correspondent
Monday, 28 September 2009 18:20

BOTOLAN, Zambales—After losing their homes and most of their belongings to a series of floods that inundated 10 villages in this town since early August, residents who fled to the safety of higher grounds face new problems, mainly lack of food and medicine, as well as a stressful life in overcrowded evacuation centers that have served as their temporary homes.

“They badly need basic items like food, potable water, medicine, clothing, and most of all, housing,” said Vibelen Dimalupig, a social-welfare officer in Zambales, during a briefing at the capitol building in Iba on Thursday.

The relief goods issued by the government and those that come from donors “simply cannot cope” with the needs of the displaced families, she added.

The massive displacement of residents here began last month after heavy rains spawned by Typhoon Kiko combined with excess runoff from the mountains and packed a deadly headwater of debris-filled watery lahar.

The rampaging waters then breached a portion of the San Juan dike along the Bucao River, one of the major catch basins of lahar from Mount Pinatubo, and shifted the river course to nearby villages, sending residents scampering to safety.

In the aftermath of the typhoon, 4,783 families comprising 20,581 persons were displaced, a summary report prepared by the Zambales Provincial Disaster Operation Center showed. These included 4,913 persons from the riverside barangay of San Juan; 3,655 from the village of Carael, where the river passes through; 2,292 from Paco; 2,064 from Bangan; and about 1,500 each from the villages of Tampo, Batonlapoc, Paudpod, Capayawan, Beneg and San Miguel.

In the succeeding weeks when more typhoons brought torrential rains to Zambales, the number of evacuees in Botolan rose and fell along with the dreaded floodwaters, social workers noted.

When Typhoon Maring lashed the province on September 7, for example, 4,673 families were again affected by flash floods.

Of these, 718 families said their houses were totally damaged, while 333 reported that theirs were partially destroyed, a report by Botolan social-welfare officer Isagani Ecle said.

The new floods again led 1,931 families to seek refuge at evacuation centers, and 1,277 others to stay with relatives elsewhere.

Because of the recurring floods, 2,141 families composed of 7,942 men, women and children are still housed in 12 evacuation centers scattered in this municipality as of September 24.

But the relative safety of evacuation centers has apparently started to wear thin and exact some toll on the evacuees over time.

The emerging culprit, evacuees complained, is overcrowding that has inevitably strained the facilities and resources in the evacuation centers.

At the New Taugtog resettlement area, for example, a total of 901 evacuees from 235 families share a warehouse-like structure previously occupied by the Technology Learning and Resources Center.

Camping inside the building, the evacuees erected makeshift rooms that they share with family members and occasionally, household pets like dogs.

Over time, however, the noise and smell became hardly bearable that it was hard to sleep, said 74-year-old Gloria Dimacusa, who evacuated with her six grandchildren.

To make matters worse, the building has only three toilets to serve the whole evacuee population.

Social workers in this town admitted that the situation could be worse in other evacuation centers like the Babon San Juan, which has 1,771 evacuees, or the so-called Tent City, which has a total of 1,288 evacuees.

Gina Acuña, a rural health officer in this town, said the unsanitary condition in the evacuation centers, coupled by lack of adequate food and medicine, has made some residents sick.

Most of those afflicted have acute respiratory tract infection, fever, colds and cough, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Acuña added.

Severino Magsanop, a 93-year-old retired soldier, has been living with his wife Felisa, 80, at the Taugtog resettlement site ever since their house in barangay San Juan became flooded last month.

Magsanop said the government should do what it can to help evacuees rebuild their houses and their lives.

“It’s very difficult to live in this kind of place,” Magsanop told the media in Pilipino during a visit last week. “We’re overcrowded in here. The place is dirty and it smells bad.”

The same plea came from Ester Josafat, 69, and Andres Bulanhigan, 65, who also left their family homes in San Juan when the floods ran roughshod over the village.

Bulanhigan, a vegetable farmer who has three children ages 5 to 16, said it is important for them to have a new home.

“We can make do with not much food, even with a few belongings, but we need to have our own house,” he said.

Typhoon Ondoy

Hello everyone. I hope you're all doing well after all that's being on with Typhoon Ondoy. I haven't had a chance to update, as I lost my Internet service last Saturday and could only use the Internet at work.

Anyway, I'm sure you've read and head a lot about what has happened over the weekend. The greater Manila area, and nearby provinces, experienced the worst rainfall ever last Saturday, about six months worth of water in about six to twelve hours. Many families lost their homes and belongings, some were unfortunate to lose their lives. Those who made it safely to the evacuation centers were all just thankful that they still have their families together.

For those who wish to help, here's three sites that might prove helpful (via MLQ3's Twitter).

List of Places to Donate
Map Update Form (places that still need rescuing, etc)
Ondoy Victim Directory

Also,let's not forget the people in the provinces who were affected by previous storms and were still having trouble recovering. They could also greatly use your help.

Stay safe everyone.

Online forum

I created an online forum/message board for this blog. If you'd like to further interact with other Zambaleños, feel free to sign up. It's basically empty, but I'm hoping it'll soon be a bustling community.

Invite your friends too! Spread the word! Thanks!

Online forum for Zambaleños

Note: Some of the threads require membership to view.

PCIJ articles on Zambales mining

Something that I stumbled upon just today. You may find it interesting.

Mining Mayhem Triggers Eco-Disaster in Zambales
PCIJ report
by: Jaileen F. Jimeneo

Firms mining watershed, forest areas of Zambales
PCIJ report
by: Jaileen F. Jimeneo

Zambales affected by Typhoon Labuyo

After the typhoon Kiko, we now have typhoon Labuyo affecting the residents of Zambales.

Severe floods hit Zambales areas
By Robert Gonzaga, Anselmo Roque

OLONGAPO CITY, Philippines - Heavy rains caused by Typhoon “Labuyo” flooded sections of this city and other parts of Zambales on Tuesday.

The floods that hit at least nine Olongapo villages were the most severe since 1997, said Angelito Layug, city disaster management chief.

“We have not seen something like this since 1997. The river in Sta. Rita overflowed fast, and there is a lot of flooding in the city,” he said.

Layug said the floods swamped the villages of East and West Bajac Bajac, Gordon Heights, Sta. Rita, Old Cabalan, Mabayuan, Ilalim, Kababae and Barrio Barreto

More than 70 people, mostly from Sta. Rita and Old Cabalan, were taken to the Olongapo City National High School while other flood victims chose to seek shelter with their relatives in other parts of the city.

Rains also triggered minor landslides that blocked a road and damaged at least two houses.

Employees of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority at the Subic Bay Freeport were allowed to go on leave Tuesday due to the flooding in Olongapo, where most SBMA workers live.

“Almost 80 percent of our employees are affected by the floods. That’s the SBMA’s workers alone [excluding those who work in companies inside the freeport],” said SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza.

Continue reading

Just two weeks ago, I was able to go to Candelaria. The roads in Botolan were passable, but you could clearly see the devastation Kiko wrought. Now there's news (still looking for it though), that the town's flooded again. :(

I was able to take some photos from the bus. I can only imagine how it might be now that it's raining again.

Botolan, Zambales: Aftermath of Typhoon Kiko.

Zambales signs deal for $50-billion investment

Governer Amor D. Deloso, on September 3, 2009, signed a US $50-billion investment for priority projects in Zambales, focusing on tourism, real estate development, infrastructure, agricultureal research, indigenous power supply and mineral enchancements.

The Memorandum Agreement was inked between the Zambales Provincial Government and the Swiss Global Connect USA, in partnership with the AIPAC Philippine Management Corporation. This was in accordance with the build, operate and transfer (BOT), or the build, operate and own (BOO) programs of the national and provincial government, witnessed by various political leaders, heads of agencies and guests.

Read the full article: Zambales inks $ 50-B investments with Swiss Global Connect USA