BOTOLAN, Zambales — The aftermath of typhoons “Kiko” in August, “Labuyo and Ondoy” in September and typhoon “Peping” this month left this town battered and merely surviving, thanks to the continuous humanitarian efforts extended by non-government organizations, government agencies extending relief and rescue operations to the flood victims.
On Thursday, missionaries of the God is Good Christian Church in Parañaque City, in coordination with the 102nd Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary Chaplain Division, distributed relief goods and boosted the low morale of the victims though evangelical messages.
“My heart bleeds because we cannot bring enough for the victims, but if God’s will, we will come back and bring more to you,” Pastor Reiner Blas said to the families still housed in Bucao evacuation center, to the victims who remained in their damaged houses in Barangay Paco and some of those that put up temporary shelters in the highland of Sitio Kinabalungan near the Bucao Bridge.
Octavio Dies, a resident in Barangay Carael recalled that it was a nightmare losing their newly constructed house, all their appliances and the sari-sari store they put up from the help of relatives.
“Everything was washed out when typhoon “Kiko” hit our province. Luckily, we survived. We were able to salvage some floating G.I. sheets which we are using now as temporary shelter here in Sitio Kinabalungan,” he said.
Still under water were Barangay San Juan, Paco, Bangan and the most devastated of all, Barangay Carael.
Rice fields in Barangay Capayawan, a village of Botolan is also gone and become a new river, and in village cemetery in Barangay Paco, hundreds of tombs were washed out by the raging water, only a portion of the whole cemetery remained.
Reports from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council disclosed that about 2,479 families or 9,096 persons from 8 barangays in Botolan are still housed in 14 evacuations centers.
Governor Amor Deloso said total devastation hit Botolan town. Rehabilitation of the structures, roads, and flooded houses will start only when the one-kilometer breached structure of the Bucao dike is repaired.
“Until this site will be empowered or strengthened, I will not allow the return of the people in this place,” referring to the residents of barangay Carael heavily hit by the floodings.
On Thursday, missionaries of the God is Good Christian Church in Parañaque City, in coordination with the 102nd Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary Chaplain Division, distributed relief goods and boosted the low morale of the victims though evangelical messages.
“My heart bleeds because we cannot bring enough for the victims, but if God’s will, we will come back and bring more to you,” Pastor Reiner Blas said to the families still housed in Bucao evacuation center, to the victims who remained in their damaged houses in Barangay Paco and some of those that put up temporary shelters in the highland of Sitio Kinabalungan near the Bucao Bridge.
Octavio Dies, a resident in Barangay Carael recalled that it was a nightmare losing their newly constructed house, all their appliances and the sari-sari store they put up from the help of relatives.
“Everything was washed out when typhoon “Kiko” hit our province. Luckily, we survived. We were able to salvage some floating G.I. sheets which we are using now as temporary shelter here in Sitio Kinabalungan,” he said.
Still under water were Barangay San Juan, Paco, Bangan and the most devastated of all, Barangay Carael.
Rice fields in Barangay Capayawan, a village of Botolan is also gone and become a new river, and in village cemetery in Barangay Paco, hundreds of tombs were washed out by the raging water, only a portion of the whole cemetery remained.
Reports from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council disclosed that about 2,479 families or 9,096 persons from 8 barangays in Botolan are still housed in 14 evacuations centers.
Governor Amor Deloso said total devastation hit Botolan town. Rehabilitation of the structures, roads, and flooded houses will start only when the one-kilometer breached structure of the Bucao dike is repaired.
“Until this site will be empowered or strengthened, I will not allow the return of the people in this place,” referring to the residents of barangay Carael heavily hit by the floodings.
