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| House smashed by Glenda's storm surge. DB |
HAGONOY,
Bulacan—Built 60 years ago, gone in two minutes.
This
was how a resident of the coastal village of Pugad here described the fury of
storm surge spawned by typhoon Glenda when it traversed the Manila Bay on July
16 en route to the West Philippine Sea.
In
total, no less than 60 houses in the said villages were totally damaged as
seven feet storm surge came rushing in.
Joey
Gregorio, 44, of the said village narrated to PromdiNEWS how their house
crumbled on the fury of storm surge.
“Wala
kaming nagawa, dalawang minuto lang nawala na yung bahay,” he said noting that houses
of his three older brothers built beside their ancestral house were also washed
out.
Their
ancestral house was built by his parents 60 years ago.
The
said houses which used to stand side by side were all made of concrete hollow
blocks.
Now,
only piles of debris were left in place and the concrete comfort room of his
brother’s house.
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| Remains of the Gregorio house. DB |
In
the nearby village of Tibaguin, Yolanda Geronimo burst into tears as she
recounted how her three year old house gave in to the fury of storm surge.
“Twenty
minutes lang wala na yung bahay naming,” she said.
Geronimo
said their house was constructed less than three years ago.
It
was actually a replacement to their former house destroyed by similar storm
surge at the height of the onslaught of typhoon Quiel in 2011.
“Dalawang
sunod na po iyan mula noong Quiel,” she said as she tried to hold back the
tears.
While
lamenting the loss of their houses, both the Gregorios and the Geronimos where
thankful that no one in their families and in their villages died during the
typhoon.
But
they also stressed that storm surges not hit their villages because municipal
fishpond that used to protect them was damaged.
This
was affirmed by Councilmen Gilbert Tamayo and Alfredo Lunes of Barangay Pugad.
They
said that since the dikes of the over 200 hectare municipal fishpond beside the
two villages were washed out six years ago, they are now fearing for their
lives every time there is a typhoon.
“Natatawag
po naming ang lahat ng Santo sa simbahan kapag bumabagyo na dahil walang
humaharang sa alon mula sa dagat,” Tamayo said.
For
his part, Mayor Raulito Manlapaz said they will start rehabilitating the
municipal fishpond by December.
Manlapaz
visited the two villages yesterday to distribute relief goods to residents.
His
group’s arrival cam just when PromdiNEWS was about to leave Barangay Pugad.
According
to Manlapaz, they are now preparing fund for the rehabilitation.
But
he stressed that rehabilitation will be quicker if the provincial government
will loan them its large dredging machine.
As
a former fishpond operators, Manlapaz said that they will need all the
assistance they can get to rehabilitate the 13-kiloment coastline of this town
and protect its aquaculture industry along with the two coastal villages. Dino
Balabo
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| PUGAD AFTER GLENDA. There used to be houses here. DB |
