Typhoon victims face risks with trust in God

THE Church is urging better flood preparedness as residents of typhoon-ravaged villages rebuild beside a river, despite the risks.

“Where else would we go?” said resident Antonio Rampola Sr.

“We don’t think of the next flood or warnings about Marikina being on an earthquake fault because we will be paralyzed by fear,” the 69-year-old retired factory worker told UCA News.

“We just repaired our house, built a ‘panic room’ on top of our roof and pray for God’s protection.”

Rebuilding

About 80 percent of more than 1,000 households have started rebuilding their homes in St. Joseph Village, homeowners’ association president Araceli Bumatay estimates.

St. Joseph was one of the worst hit villages when Marikina River broke its banks in the wake of Typhoon Ketsana last Sept. 26.

Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila in his Palm Sunday appeal for donations to Church social services through Caritas Manila called Catholics to do more.

“We have to prepare. We have to be prepared. We have to change – really change,” Cardinal Rosales warned.

“The season of Lent … is also a time to reflect on how we have served as stewards of God’s creation,” the cardinal said.

He said Caritas Sunday “has always been about the less fortunate” but “with the seriousness of the climate crisis and these calamities, we, all of us, become the less fortunate.”

Typhoons dump rain

The Manila Observatory of the Jesuit Ateneo de Manila University recorded 368.8 millimeters of rain dumped by Ketsana compared with average monthly levels of around 330.3 millimeters.

Typhoon Parma that swept northern Philippines Luzon island the following week triggered landslides and destroyed farms in the region. Another typhoon hit the country in October.

The Special National Public Reconstruction Commission set up after the disaster, reported that more than 10 million people were affected, and about 25,000 remain displaced.

More than 8,700 families or about 61,000 people had been relocated as of March at a cost of more than US$22 million.

While most members of St. Joseph homeowners’ association are from the middle class and can afford to repair homes, they still face challenges.

“What is taking longer is replacement of drainage pipes because … we are caught in the election period when release of public funds has been suspended,” Bumatay said.

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