Philippines - One girl, her dog and the floodwaters

On September 26 Typhoon Ketsana hit the Philippines heralding a week of torrential rain that triggered landslides and widespread flooding, killing at least 650 people and leaving many more homeless.

Oling is a six year-old girl whose family is among the reported 2.2 million residents who were left homeless when Laguna Lake, one of the country’s largest bodies of water, overflowed as a result of Typhoon Ketsana.

“We didn’t anticipate it to turn out this bad,” says Oling’s mother, Virgie.

Having lived in the resettlement area of San Vicente since1997, Oling’s family is no stranger to the floods that often ensue whenever the lake swells. Her parents thought they had already lived through the worst – until Typhoon Ketsana put their entire neighbourhood under water. They thought that they could ride out this storm, as they had done previously, but when their house started filling up with water around 8am, Virgie realised they had underestimated the storm’s strength.

“My husband and I held the children close as we waded in waist-deep water and fought the undercurrent that threatened to pull us under,” she says.  Virgie remembers seeing her panic stricken neighbours also fleeing for dry ground.

We left the dog on the rooftop

While the family survived unscathed, they were left with just a few clothes, a pot, a handful of plates, cutlery and some of the children’s schoolbooks. Even these few, barely accessible possessions were a cause for worry for Oling’s family.

“My father visits our house every morning to feed our dog.  We left the dog on our rooftop to guard our things because people might come to steal them,” Oling says.

Unlike many families who sought shelter at evacuation centres, Oling’s father opted to take his family to the living quarters of a construction company where he works as a labourer.

“We share a room with 15 other people. It’s cramped but it’s better than living in the evacuation centre where there are too many in a room, there is no water and the toilets don’t work,” Virgie says. She adds that poor sanitation has led to many children getting sick with fever, colds and foot infections.
 
While Virgie’s children’s health hasn’t been as badly affected as those in the evacuation centres, there are downsides to living away from the centres: “My family often miss out on relief goods that are brought to the evacuation centre. Most often, the goods are already gone when I get there,” Virgie says.

World Vision responds

To date, World Vision has distributed relief packs to 1,900 families in the town of Angono.  Continuing relief efforts are now aiming to reach affected families like Virgie’s who have opted to stay out of evacuation centres.

 “I don’t want to go back to our house yet. The water is still way above my father’s head,” says Oling, while clutching a plastic bag containing a notebook and pens that were given out at the previous day’s launch of a Child Friendly Space (CFS) set up by World Vision at the evacuation centre. A suddenly animated Oling explains that for two days now, she has been able to play and have fun with her friend, Jocelyn, whom she hadn’t seen since they fled their homes in San Vicente a week ago.

The need is still great; the government in the Philippines has estimated the cost of the damage to be at least $350m (£218m) and with agriculture and fisheries badly affected, there is a great risk of hunger, malnutrition, disease and trauma. WV was on the ground within hours of the typhoon making landfall, working with local government, other aid agencies, volunteers and those in the community to distribute food, blankets, health kits, shelter and much more.

Click here to read about the launch of a programme that aims to assist Typhoon survivors through addressing immediate food needs, whilst providing a provisional livelihood for flood-affected families.