A Typhoon Odette Story
This could be a lesson in disaster preparedness, but we can do that later. This could be a case study on the failure of the DRR systems in this island, but there will be time for that.
This is a story about a Father’s love. Busao, Maribojoc , Bohol sits on what is scientifically called a floodplain – a large flat land between a flowing river and the edge of a valley. The flood is necessary. The water brings with it organic materials that will fertilize this rice field. The flood waters also feed the watershed underneath, and that is why Busao has an abundance of natural spring.
But the flood can threaten lives. These people are used to flooding it has become part of their psyche. But Odette brought a once in a lifetime floodwater – it covered many houses and reached up to the second floor.
Catalino Recamara learned this the hard way. He and his wife with their one-month-old infant didn’t evacuate thinking signal number 4 is nothing.
He loves his baby; it took him and his wife decades to get pregnant. They are already in their 40s when the baby came.
But that night, he almost lost his family. The raging waters reached the second floor. Catalino’s first thought was to strap the baby tight in his chest and swim to the nearest forested hill. That would have killed the infant.
Then he saw the mattress, grabbed it, placed the infant on top, and with his wife struggled to swim against the current to reach the hill. They found a hut where he built fire to save them from hypothermia, and waited for the morning to come.
When it came, the water had subsided, and his house was covered in mud. But he was thankful that his baby survived, and pledged to his family, “Next time, whatever the signal is, we will evacuate.”
They are all saved and safe now. They cleaned up their house and returned there. They received the food pack from the ECOWEB a few days later and expressed their gratitude by saying, “I hope this will not happen to other families. Tell them to always evacuate.”
Note: Images are used with permission. Waivers have been signed.
