23 November 2007
By Ephraim Aguilar and Joanna Los Baños
Inquirer Southern Luzon
LEGAZPI CITY—SAYING IT was better to be safe than sorry, residents of the low-lying village of Padang padlocked their houses and shops and began a mass evacuation with the approach of Typhoon “Mina.”
Located about 4 kilometers northeast of Legazpi City proper, Padang looked almost like a no-man’s land yesterday as residents heeded official warnings to leave after water spilled over swelling irrigation and river channels connected to the gullies of Mayon Volcano.
The village was one of those hardest hit by Supertyphoon “Reming” last year.
Major arteries in the city were flooded on Monday and Tuesday following heavy rains.
Most of the houses and sari-sari stores in Padang were shut and only pet animals—cats and dogs, as well as chickens—could be seen at street corners.
A few people who had come back to the village after a night in evacuation centers hurried about, carrying plastic bags, baskets with kitchen utensils, clothes, and pitchers of drinking water.
Some men were left in the village to guard their houses and feed their livestock but most said they would leave once Mina was near.
Some mothers returned home to cook food and get beddings and additional clothing before heading back to their designated evacuation center at the Gogon Elementary School.
Zaldy Bolante, 32, kept himself busy by feeding his dogs. He had left his wife and four children in a relative’s house in a resettlement site in another barangay.
Bolante said he had to look after the animals and make charcoal which he would bring to the resettlement site since firewood there was scarce.
Bolante, a construction worker, said his family evacuated at 1 p.m. Wednesday, fearing the tragedy caused by Supertyphoon “Reming,” which killed hundreds of people in the village last year, would happen again.
“We did not wait anymore for the Army trucks to pick up the evacuees. We left on our own. It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Bolante said in the vernacular.
He said many people in the village became afraid when floodwaters rose above the knee.
Bolante said thieves usually took advantage of disaster situations so he made sure his house was locked.
Barangay Councilor Jayson Bataller said more than 100 families from Padang, consisting of more than 500 people, had evacuated to the Gogon school.
Almost 200 of them were children.
“We are safe here (Gogon). We don’t have that scared feeling anymore,” Bataller said.
He said that as of Thursday morning, the evacuees had three sacks of rice, distributed at one kilo per family.
“We also received cartboard boxes, which served as sleeping mats, especially for the children,” he said.
Priscilla Arienda, 30, who is four months pregnant with her sixth child, said life at the evacuation center might be difficult but she had no cause to complain.
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