MARIVELES, Bataan — Strong winds and turbulent big waves caused by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng on midnight of Sunday destroyed fishing bancas and houses in four villages here.
Combined initial report from the municipal disaster risk reduction management office and Barangay Sisiman Monday showed that 51 bancas and 48 houses were damaged in barangays Biaan, Balon Anito, Alas-asin, and Sisiman.
The MDRRMO and Sisiman chairman Honesto Cabanillas said that they expected the figure to rise as soon as they receive the complete report.
In Sitio Breakwater, Barangay Sisiman, the waves were still turbulent and fishermen found it difficult to bring out of the water one of the fishing boats that sank.
Fisherman Carlos Mapote said that they experienced strong wind and big waves at 12 midnight of Sunday. “Dinurog ng alon ang mga bangkang nakaparada sa dalampasigan at mga bahay. Hingi kami ng tulong para makapaghanap-buhay ulit. Ni anino hindi ko na nakita bangka ko.”
“Nananawagan ako na sana tulungan kaming mahihirap lalo na ang mga nasiraan ng bangka,” Mapote appealed.
Another fisherman, Edgardo Susmena, said some of the bancas were sunk and already very hard to recover while his house was washed-out. “Magawa sana bahay kong nasira at mapalitan ang lambat kong nasira.”
Cabanillas said that per initial report he received, there were 30 bancas and 30 houses damaged with two washed-out in Breakwater alone because of the strong waves. “Baka dumami pa ito dahil patuloy pa ang pagkuha namin ng data.”
Cabanillas said they were still gathering data as to the number of families affected and the additional number of bancas and houses that might have been damaged.
Bataan on Monday still experienced intermittent light to strong rains. While in most areas of the province the evacuees were sent home, in Mariveles, MDRRMO said, 223 families of 919 individuals still remained at evacuation centers.
