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A frail widow was coughing as she wrapped herself with a thin scarf to protect herself from the cold inside the sports complex in barangay Sudlon 1, Cebu City.
But Erlinda Cabilis, 56, was not the only one who was sick.
Her daughter, her two-year-old granddaughter and many of other evacuees from barangay Sinsin are suffering from fever. Others, like Erlinda, have cough and colds. About four kids, aged two to 12, have chicken pox.
“Magtinakdanay na lang mi ani (We would just infect each other here),” Nene Tabada, another evacuee, said in jest.
Tabada, 50, said she was worried that their health condition might deteriorate especially since they slept on the canvass covered by a mat placed on the cold cement floor of the sports complex.
In the evening, the blanket could barely fight off the cold wind that entered the sports complex through the opening in the roof and the door.
Cebu City Councilor Gerry Carillo told that they were monitoring the health conditions of the about 70 families who were staying at the Sudlon 1 sports complex after they were forced to leave their homes in sitio Nangka, barangay Sinsin, on Wednesday.
Carillo, action officer of the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council (CCDCC), said he and doctors from the City Health Office would go to the sports complex to check on the condition of the evacuees.
“We actually know the situation of the people there because somebody from the CCDCC is monitoring there,” he said.
He assured that doctors would regularly visit the sports complex to check on the evacuees.
Last Wednesday, the Cebu City officials, with the help of the Marines and barangay officials, enforced a forced evacuation to the families living within the danger zone, which covered about three hectares in sitio Nangka, barangay Sinsin, a mountain barangay located about 32 km from the Cebu City proper.
They were acting on the recommendation of the geologists from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Visayas (MGB-7) that the lives of these families were at risk because the continuous movement of the ground in Nangka could trigger major landslides, similar to what happened in a village in St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte in 2006.
Massive landslide buried the entire barangay Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, killing more than 1,000 persons.
Geologist found out that the rocks that hold the mountain in Nangka was highly fractured. The water from the higher ground had seeped through the fractured rocks causing the ground to move.
Abraham Lucero Jr., MGB-7 senior science and research specialist, earlier said that about 10 hectares of land was in danger of collapsing anytime because of the visible cracks that surrounded the area.
Carillo said there were 70 families or 300 individuals housed inside the sports complex.
But Sinsin barangay captain Ramon “Jun” Ylaya said only 41 families and 134 individuals had been evacuated.
But two days into their stay inside the sports complex, many evacuees were complaining of ailments – fever, cough, colds and diarrhea. Many of those sick were children, said Tabada.
She said that aside from food, the city government should also provide them with doctors who would check on their health especially that they all slept under one roof.
Tabada pointed out that in the evening, the entire basketball court (measuring about 30 meters by 15 meters) was covered with mats and canvasses provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) which the evacuees slept on.
“Murag wa na gyod salog na makita inig ka gabie kay mag-ipon raman mi tanan ug katulog (You could not see the floor in the evening because we all sleep together),” said Tabada.
A male evacuee, who declined to give his name, said that when they used to live in Sinsin, they could not sleep thinking that the ground would give in anytime.
Now that they had been moved to a safer area, he added, they still could not sleep because the sports complex was very cold in the evening. They were also woken up by the cries of children in the middle of the night.
In the morning, he said they could not also sleep because the sports complex would be used for basketball practice. They also had to go back home to Sinsin, a distance of about three kilometers, to attend to their farms and livestock.
Another evacuee, Anastacia Cabilis, said they were not used to sleeping on cold cement floors. At night, she added, they could not stop shivering because of the cold. They only had a thin blanket to protect them.
Cathy Yso, DSWS officer, said they distributed one blanket, a mosquito net and a mat –good for a family of five members.
Portable restrooms –one each for male and female –have been put up at the side of the sports complex.
But the evacuees don't like using the portables. They would walk back to their house to take a bath and to remove their bowels.
The city government provides water tanks for laundry and bath. But the evacuees get their drinking water from a water pipe sourced from a spring in Sinsin.
Barangay captain Ylaya said residents are used to drinking water from the spring.
But the evacuees feared of a diarrhea outbreak due to their drinking water.
“Naanad lagi mi ug inom og tubig gikan sa bukid pero dili naman mi makasigurado kung limpyo na ba na kay nagsige baya ug ulan (Yes, we are used to drinking water from the mountains but we cannot be sure that the water we are drinking now is safe because of the incessant rains),” said Tabada.
Although they are not allowed to go back to Sinsin, the evacuees would find ways to go to the spring, which is part of the danger zone, just to wash their clothes. They pointed out that while the city gives them water for washing, there is not enough area in the evacuation site to hang their clothes.
Carillo warned the people not to go back to the area because it is too dangerous.
“If they go back, we will not allow them to stay that long,” Carillo said in a phone interview.
Carillo assured that they would help them find a relocation site. Mayor Tomas Osmeña, he added, had also suggested that the city would provide alternative livelihood programs for the affected families.
Aside from the P5,000 in financial assistance, the city government would give each affected family P5,000 worth of construction materials so they could rebuild their homes.
But Clemencia Cabilis, an evacuee who has been complaining of headache and diarrhea, said they should not be dependent on the help provided by the city government
“Musuporta lagi ang gobyerno pero dili pud mi magsige ug pangayo oy kay mauwaw sad mi. Lig-on og lawas unya sige og pasuporta (The city government is willing to support us but we should not always ask for help because we would be embarrassed too. We are still able-bodied yet, we kept on asking for support),” said Cabilis.
