The wrath of typhoon Sendong in 2011
by Sr. Mari Murillo, FMM
We were preparing for our Christmas party on December 16, 2011 when the Typhoon Sendong swept across the Mindanao Region bringing strong winds and heavy rains that caused massive flooding, flash floods and landslides. Iligan City was among those severely hit by the typhoon.
In the middle of the night of December 16, somebody called Sr. Ave Almendras asking for prayer because they were already up in the roof of their houses in Bayug Island because the whole Island was already flooded. Early in the morning of December 17, Sr. Lou and I go out to see the situation of the people only to be taken aback by a horrible scene. Corpses were scattered in the streets around and people were stunned and walking like zombies. I could not forget the expressions on their faces. In an overnight catastrophe, thousands of lives were taken. The government counted 51,751 houses destroyed, 1,527 dead and hundreds still missing. This was the worst calamity ever happened in the city.
My heart goes out to the suffering survivors of this terrible tragedy even as I deeply condole with families whose loved ones perish. Yet, even as I mourn and express my deepest sympathy, I am also consoled by the fact that this calamity has brought out the best in the people. Together with other religious, we helped and shared our resources, time and effort in whatever way we can to alleviate the sufferings of the survivors.
We set a relief program for about 4 months together with psychological debriefing. The homeless survivors whose house were washed out and in dire need of shelter- different religious and organizations. FMM proposed a project that will run through two phases. Phase 1 will cover building of houses and the Phase 2 will include eco-social interventions and on-going formation for the beneficiaries of the housing project. This proposed project was finally realized in year 2012. We, the FMMs, as our ex-voto for our 100 years presence in the Philippines donated 100 houses and eventually the late Bishop Elenito Galido requested us to take of the pastoral care of the Relocation Site with 281 families.
In this experience of mission in time of a great disaster, my faith was very much challenged. I learned to listen to God as I listened to people who are suffering because they have lost everything. I believe that God is with us always especially in the most challenging and lowest time of our life.
At present, we have picked up the broken pieces of their lives and live a normal life leaving behind the sad yesterday because they believed that God never abandoned them.