Newly healed lives for survivors of ‘Reming’

03 December 2007
By Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon

LEGAZPI CITY—TO THE REFUGEES IN transit shelters at the Taysan resettlement village here, the flowers abloom around them showcase yet another facet of their new lives after Supertyphoon “Reming” struck on Nov. 30 last year.

The refugees, whose next of kin were among the dead and missing, can again afford to smell the roses a year since hurdling the dreary and ash-covered landscape in the villages of Albay after that mournful day.

The date marked one of the worst disasters to ever strike the province. Lahar from Mayon volcano buried thousands of people and homes.

Youths would meet up in groups to sing and play the guitar. Some played basketball. Mothers gathered to enjoy conversations during afternoon siesta. Others grow vegetables in small patches of land next to their houses.

The Taysan resettlement site cradles more than 300 displaced villagers from the lahar zones in Barangay Padang, one of the worst-hit in the city.

The “bayanihan” system can be observed as the refugees build houses where they will settle before Christmas.

Others were busy dismantling their old shanties which they had occupied for more than 10 months after being displaced.

Women are busy tending the sari-sari stores that thrive in the community. Some families set up stores in front of their newly built homes.

Some refugees sell charcoal and root crops at the site for a living.

Right after the typhoon, tension was palpable as people were starting all over again, much like chickens scratching for whatever grains they could scoop from a barren and deserted land.

The villagers were then fixing the shanties and tents that had served as temporary shelters, queuing for food rations and goods from relief agencies, painfully retelling the tragedy each time journalists visited them for interviews.

It is a different story today with the refugees living new lives.

Alone

Getting up was the most difficult thing for Anna Añonuevo, whose house was swept by lahar flows at the height of the super howler.

Floodwaters from gullies of the volcano washed away her parents and three siblings. Their bodies were never recovered.

Añonuevo, 23, the youngest in the family, was the sole survivor.

She finished college in March with a degree in education.

“My parents were not there to see me receive my diploma on stage. But I knew they were happy,” she said.

She said it was her father’s dream for her to become a teacher and she was determined to pursue it in return for her parents’ sacrifices.

Helping hand

A noontime variety show chose Añonuevo to be one of its beneficiaries and she was given cash gifts for her to start all over again.

She was able to buy new clothes and pay for the medication of her injuries.

In the hardest time of her life, her best friend’s family welcomed her to their house. She has been staying there for 11 months. It was where she spent her first Christmas without her family.

Rose Valladolid, 21, said taking Añonuevo to her home was like having a sister since she was an only child.

“Ana has been a very good friend who has helped me a lot, too. My parents know her and we all decided to help her. The tragedy made our friendship deeper and stronger,” Rose said.

Now, Ana is busy overseeing the construction of her house awarded to her through the core-shelter assistance project of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

A new chapter

Trauma counseling and stress debriefing sessions conducted by missionary volunteers were a big help for Ramon Balderama, 29, so he could heal emotionally.

Balderama tried to save his wife, his 4-year-old daughter, and 2-year-old son from the raging lahar but failed.

“I was mad at God for a while for allowing my wife and my children to perish in the tragedy and letting me live without them,” Balderama said. “But later I understood and accepted that it was all part of God’s test.”

Balderama found comfort from a friend he met at the resettlement site. That friend later became his wife.

Despite criticisms, they got married at the Taysan village chapel on Feb. 28.

His wife Lita, 24, lost her mother, two sisters, and two nephews.

“It was the reason I easily empathized with (my husband’s) situation. We both lost our loved ones and we were there to care for each other after the tragedy,” Lita said.

Balderama said he would never forget his wife and children who died, and that he still missed them a lot.

But, he said, he felt blessed that he now expected a new baby. Lita is 6 months pregnant.

“People may not understand our decision [to get married], but this is probably God’s way of giving us a new life after the tragedy that hurt us deeply,” Lita said in Filipino.

Youngest survivor

Not many people might know it, but Mercy Arquero’s child could be the youngest yet undocumented survivor from the lahar in Padang.

Her fifth daughter was in her womb when she was swept off by lahar. She was then 4 months pregnant.

She lost her year-old baby, two other children in the flood.

In May, Mercy gave birth to her baby. She named her “Mayonisa” after the volcano.

“I thank God I delivered a normal and healthy baby,” Arquero said.

For Ana, Ramon and his wife Lita, Mercy and Mayonisa, the wounds brought by the November tragedy may take time to heal, but they hope to draw strength from their newly healed lives.