As aftershocks of Davao Oriental’s 7.4 magnitude quake and its 6.8 magnitude doublet continue to keep fisherfolk from going back to sea, fishing communities in Baganga town are facing hunger if relief goods stop coming, a humanitarian group warned.
Reiza S. Dejito, country director of the humanitarian group CARE Philippines, sounded the alarm following CARE’s visit to the quake-affected communities in Baganga, where they distributed relief and conducted psycho-social briefing to those affected.
Barangay chair Perle Ibanez of Kinablangan village also confirmed Dejito’s warning on Sunday.
Although a total of 2,038 families were already given food assistance by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Ibanez’s village, fishing communities would still be in dire need of food as their heads of families could not yet go back to the sea, where they get their main source of income, he said.
Of the 200 houses totally damaged by quakes in the town of Baganga, 24 of the houses were in Kinablangan. A total of 500 families or three puroks living on a sandbar across the village have been evacuated to higher grounds and would still need assistance, Ibanez said in a phone interview.
‘We hope that condition will improve so that our fisherfolk can finally go back to sea and live normal lives again, but even last night, strong aftershocks from another quake in Surigao del Sur still kept people awake,’ Ibanez said in a phone interview with Inquirer. ‘People still fear going back to sea and are even staying out of their houses at night to sleep in the open,’ he added.
Although all families in the 20 puroks that make up his barangay already received food packs from the DSWD and the local government units, it was not certain yet how long those food packs would last, and there was no assurance yet that another aid would be coming, he said.
Among the humanitarian groups who arrived in Kinablangan village on Tuesday, CARE Philippines narrated the story of Jovelyn, 39, who was at home with her one-year-old daughter when the ground began to shake violently on Friday, October 10, and her house started to fall apart.
Her husband, Pastor Richard Macanas, 48, rushed to save them just moments before their ceiling and roof collapsed. ‘We could have died,’ Jovelyn said. Their relief was cut short when they remembered that their eight-year-old son, Lynnch, was still at school. Luckily, the boy was brought safely home by a neighbor.
Upon seeing his parents, the boy wailed and hugged them.
I was so scared,’ he said. ‘I thought I would never see them again.’ The boy’s family is now sheltering in a church garage, sleeping under tables as aftershocks continue to shake the area.
According to CARE, the disaster not only shattered houses but also decimated livelihoods, leaving families struggling to find their next meal. Also among those affected was Emma, 32, and her husband, Romie, 42, who saw the walls of their home collapse during the quake. Romie, a fisherman, has been unable to go to sea because of strong currents and big waves, cutting off their only source of daily income.
With meager food on the table, the young couple is forced to prioritise their two children before they eat.
‘(We subsist on) just water for now. We let our children eat first. If there’s anything left, that’s what we’ll have,’ Emma said.
As a pastor, Macanas is worried about his church members affected by the quake. He said he had seen families struggle for food, others risking their lives by taking shelter in their damaged homes during the day before sleeping in open spaces at night.
The pastor has been calling for help, asking for food packs and basic household items like sleeping materials, as many were not able to recover anything from the rubble of their homes. With families sleeping outside, he says mosquito nets are also urgently needed. Beyond the physical needs, Richard also calls for mental health sessions to help his community process their trauma and voice their worries. CARE and its partners in the Humanitarian Partnership Platform (HPP) and the EU-funded ACCESS consortium were in the area to deliver immediate support that included food packs, water kits, tarpaulin sheets for temporary shelter, and psychosocial first aid to help families cope, heal, and rebuild from the devastation./coa