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VIRAC, Catanduanes, Philippines – A surreal landscape of roofless houses and buildings, leafless trees, pieces of wood and other debris surrounds thousands of people who are still homeless and hungry in this capital city nearly a week after Typhoon “Rolly “(international name: Goni) devastated the island province of Catanduanes.
Flooded farms, downed trees, power lines and electric poles, twisted steel reinforcements, and dug-out roads and broken bridges complete the picture of devastation in the province.
Virac Mayor Sinforoso Sarmiento Jr., who now greets visitors and takes office in the corridor of the damaged municipal building, told the Inquirer on Friday that his constituents were in dire need of food and temporary shelter.
“Of the 63 villages (of Virac), you cannot say that none have been slightly affected,” he said.
CALM AFTER THE STORM The turquoise waters of this town in Virac, the capital of Catanduanes, were calm and welcoming again on November 6, almost a week after Typhoon “Rolly” (international name: Goni) swept through the province insular. Destroying houses along the shoreline and uprooting trees on the mountainside, Rolly brought winds so strong they ripped leaves off branches. —MARK ALVIC ESPLANA
initial evaluation
An initial local government assessment said that more than 5,000 houses in Virac (population: 76,000) were destroyed by the typhoon. This number is expected to increase as evaluation by local officials continues.
Rolly, the strongest typhoon in the world so far this year, made landfall for the first time around 5:40 a.m. on All Saints’ Day near the town of Bato east of Virac with torrential rains and sustained winds. 225 kilometers per hour and gusts that peaked. at 280 kph.
It destroyed or damaged everything in its path, destroying the roofs of the school buildings where many of the villagers had taken refuge before reaching land.
The winds were so fierce that the roof sheets ripped off and appeared to be poorly rolled by giant hands. They also shredded the leaves of coconut palms and other trees, leaving the branches bare and shading the sun.
Authorities said the typhoon killed six people and one was still missing.
THE STRONGEST YEAR Typhoon “Rolly” (international name: Goni) swept through fierce winds that blew off the roofs of school buildings and destroyed almost 20,000 homes and other property in the province of Catanduanes. —PHOTOS BY MARK ALVIC ESPLANA
Slow flow of aid
It was the worst storm to hit the province in recent memory, Sarmiento said.
It took some time for aid to reach Catanduanes, which is a two to four hour ferry ride from Albay province on mainland Luzon. The ferry service has been partially restored.
The 260,000-person island is also accessible by helicopter or plane.
Smart Communications has reinstated mobile phone service, but only for 2G voice and text and only in certain areas.
Sarmiento said that only 30 percent of affected households had received relief supplies.
He explained that most of the local government funds for disaster assistance had been used during the first months of the close of the pandemic.
“Our responses to COVID-19 were already expensive,” he said. “But the good thing now is that we are receiving help from individuals (groups and individuals).”
He said they were prioritizing relief assistance for residents in the most affected and remote villages.
Sarmiento called on the national government and private groups to send all the support they could.
“We are not used to asking for help. We know how to live with typhoons, but I ask you to help my fellow Viracnons, ”he said.
HARD HIT A damaged school in Virac, the provincial capital, remains unrepaired for nearly a week after Typhoon “Rolly” hit the southern island of Luzon.
Long lines
Gov. Joseph Cua told the Inquirer on Saturday that the typhoon destroyed 13,327 homes in other parts of the province and damaged 23,395 more.
The typhoon destroyed all the houses at a relocation site for informal settlers in the town of San Isidro, which was visited by the Inquirer on Friday.
The villagers said they needed food and water more than anything else.
In downtown Virac, long lines of people marched through rubble-strewn streets to money transfer stores, which reopened on Friday.
Roberto Monterola, the provincial disaster risk reduction management officer, said Virac, San Andrés, Bato, San Miguel, Baras and Gigmoto were the worst damaged cities with thousands of homeless people.
BASIC NEEDS More than a temporary shelter, villagers are asking for donations of food and clean water. With winds of more than 225 kilometers per hour, Typhoon “Rolly” was the worst storm to hit the province in recent memory, survivors said.
Tired
“Most of [residents] went home and stayed in makeshift houses made of scrap materials [scavenged from their destroyed homes]. That is the tradition here, most of the people do not stay in the evacuation centers after the typhoon, ”Monterola said.
An elderly San Isidro resident, Lolita Tolin, like many of her neighbors, was drying clothes and bedding that were not washed away by the floods and that had been rescued from the muddy debris.
Tolin, 65, said the galvanized iron roofing sheets outside his home had yet to be reinstalled.
He said he was getting tired of trying to pick up what was left of his family’s belongings.
“We have nowhere to sleep and our clothes are all wet,” Grandma said with teary eyes.
Counting on donations
With building materials in short supply, families will have to rely on donations to build their temporary homes.
Emilyn Capistrano, 41, used salvaged tarp as a makeshift roof for her home in San Isidro.
With most of the water supply facilities in the 12 cities in the province damaged, people were buying drinking water from the stores that sold water.
“We have to queue for almost an hour just to buy drinking water at the recharging stations,” said Jefferson Arcilla, a resident of Barangay France in the town of Virac.
NON-BROKEN GAME The Bicolano children frolic in rain puddles inside the severely damaged Sto. Domingo in Virac, which used to be an evacuation center during the intense typhoons that hit the province.
COVID-19 test
Monterola said the Philippine Red Cross was also supplying villages with clean water from their water sanitation facilities.
Help has begun to arrive from different parts of the country, but not fast enough to alleviate the suffering of thousands of residents.
On Wednesday, Cua ordered that the coronavirus tests required for everyone going to the province not be applied to disaster response personnel. But they still must present medical clearance certificates and travel orders before engaging in relief operations, and observe basic health measures, such as wearing face masks.
Cua assured his constituents that donations and relief items will reach even the most remote areas of the province once the roads are cleared.
Due to the damage to schools and the power outage, classes at all levels in the province remain suspended, he added.
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