Families speak of a challenging New Year
While most of us have already listed and posted on social media our New Year's Resolution, many families in Typhoon Nina-stricken towns in Camarines Sur and Albay are still at a loss on what to do after their houses were swept away and severely damaged by the recent typhoon.
Danny, 33, whose house was crushed to the ground admits he doesn't know what to do next. "Repairing my house would depend on the money I'll earn," he says.
Typhoon Nina battered the Philippines on Christmas eve. More than 1.9 million people have been affected, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported. The typhoon also damaged more than 240,000 houses, including 70,000 in the Bicol provinces alone. A state of calamity has been declared in the provinces of Catanduanes, Camarines Sur and Albay in the Bicol region, Batangas and Quezon in CALABARZON, and the province of Marinduque in MIMAROPA.
Danny is a construction worker who earns between Php200 ($4) -Php300 ($6) a day. "But it is not always that way. There are times when there is no work," he adds. Construction works are aplenty in summer, between February to May.
His wife, Monet, 30, says that their family has been living in a relative's house, which now accommodates three families. "It is difficult and uncomfortable for us. You cannot do what you want to do because there are other families," she says.
The couple has only one child, Dessa, 8, who will be going back to school on the second week of January. "I'm excited to go back to school," she shyly says.
Like other children in her village, Dessa's school things got soaked. She managed to save her notebooks but very few of these can still be used.
When asked what she will do now that she doesn't have much school supplies, she just shrugged and hid behind her mother. Even her parents still don't know what to do.
Like Danny's family, father of two Ronel, 25, has his house damaged by Typhoon Nina. His two children, Rosalyn, 5, and Jonel, 10 months, and wife, Josalyn, 25, are currently living in a relative's house. He also irregularly works as a construction worker.
"We're starting the New Year with problems," Ronel says, showing what was left of his house.
A family would need between Php10,000 ($200) -Php20,000 ($400) to construct a house comfortable for a family of five. In a village where fathers are either fishermen or construction workers, the amount would take time to raise and pay.
"After every typhoon, this is the most difficult part - to repair our house. We can get food anywhere, but our house, no," Ronel shares.
Danny's and Ronel's villages still have no electricity and may only be restored in two to three months.
World Vision’s response aims to support and complement the government-led efforts as well as work with other non-government organizations in the affected areas. During the first month, World Vision will provide relief items like hygiene kits and other non-food items like blankets and mosquito nets to initially 2,000 typhoon-affected families in hard-hit municipalities Camarines Sur and Albay provinces. If funding allows, World Vision also aims to provide shelter repair materials to the affected families. - World Vision Philippines