Mercedita Hino paused and held back tears as she expressed hope that the New Year would be better for her family, despite not knowing what lies ahead for them. Hino, her husband and four children are among tens of thousands of people displaced by floods triggered by Tropical Storm Washi who will spend New Year's Eve in refugee camps in the worst-hit cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.
"I really hope that 2012 will be brighter," she told dpa by telephone from Cagayan de Oro City, her voice quivering. "We're very thankful that we survived the floods, but it's a very sad time because we have nothing left."
The 33-year-old mother said she was most worried about where her family would eventually live.
"I wish we could already move into a new house," she said. "It's very dirty here in the evacuation centre, there are not enough bathrooms and some people just throw garbage anywhere. It already smells bad."
"There is talk about relocation but no one has really explained what will happen to us," she added. "I don't want to be pessimistic but I see a bleak future for us."
The floods wiped out entire villages in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, where at least 1,152 people were killed. Another 105 were killed in floods and landslides in nearby provinces.
Thousands of houses were swept away by rampaging muddy water, leaving many survivors with only the shirts on their back and an uncertain future.
Like many, Richie Talam, a 31-year-old father of two, would not make a guess about how 2012 would be for his family.
"It's very difficult," he said as his wife prepared lunch for their 8-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter in a tent on the parking lot of a school in Cagayan de Oro City. "I don't know what to say about the New Year."
Talam said he and his family survived by climbing a tree and hanging on for eight hours as the flood tore through their village.
"Surviving the floods was the easy part," he said. "I'm glad we are alive. That's the most I can say about this New Year." Authorities have promised to help the survivors re-build their homes, but stressed that the refugees would not be allowed to return to their old communities.
In Iligan City, soldiers and volunteers set up 150 tents in a vacant lot to allow some families to leave the evacuation centres.
George Hamoy, an officer of a local unit of Rotary International, said the tents measure about 10 square meters each. "The tents will give the families privacy and some dignity that they are not living together with thousands of others," he told a Manila television station.
Merly Sita was among the first who moved into the tents with her daughter. "We'll probably just pray and sleep tonight," she said. Ivon Antonihao, a 43-year-old mother of four, said she was envious of those who had already been given tents but wanted to know how long before they could have new houses.
"I'm afraid we will not have a not have a home of our own for a long time," she told dpa by telephone, from a school in the village of Sta Filomena in Iligan City. "We're all very nervous about the New Year."
"The tents are good, but how long will we have to stay in the tents?" she asked.
Comments
Comments are closed.