Filipinos in pain after the storm

Wrapped in a thick blanket, Imee Sayson, 7, still trembled. I was rescued after a long day buried in water and mud, when Typhoon Bopha attacked my remote village.

Imee Sayson was taken down from a military truck parked in front of a public gymnasium in New Bataan town, Compostela Valley province, on the morning of December 5. Her father and brother are still missing. I had no relatives here. Imee's mother went abroad to work, a neighbor said.

"I'm so hungry , " she whispered many times when people asked how she had survived through a long day buried in water and mud, after the storm of Bopha attacked her village in a remote area of ​​the province.

Lower body temperature, Imee is one of the victims rescued by the rescuers in the village."She kept asking for pain in her chest and abdomen," Vic Paulo Bandong, a Red Cross volunteer, was among the first to reach her.

Outside the gym, the bodies are lying on the ground, waiting for identification and family members come to receive it. The truck that came to the survivors somewhat comforted the crowd gathered here.

A dismayed man stood looking at the sea of ​​water
immense in New Bataan town after the storm. (Photo: AFP)

At least 325 people have died and hundreds are still missing due to typhoon Bopha. On December 5, 79 bodies were found throughout New Bataan town.

A man and three relatives cried bitterly when he saw the body of a little girl in the gym, her face covered with mud. That is his 8-year-old daughter, Rena Mae Adlawan. Adlawan's mother, Bebeng, and sister Jade are still missing. Everyone is in the house when floodwaters flood their village of Andap.

The father gently took the water, rubbing the mud on the girl's face. Then he cried again. According to his granddaughter, Sadrak Adlawan, he and other relatives tried to return to their families after working in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur province, when Typhoon Bopha landed.

"We were going to go home and be with everyone in the storm, but we were late , " Sadrak said.

Walterio Dapadap Jr, 44, lives in the center of town, placing his father's body outside the gym."We could not save the 78-year-old father , " Dapadap said.

His family thought that this was just a normal flood, the water would rise slowly and gradually withdraw after the rain."We were shocked to see the water rising too fast ," he said.

People returned to search for everything
usable in a house that was stormed by a storm. (Photo: AFP)

Other villagers could not contain the pain of seeing their loved ones leaving, houses were destroyed. The bodies, including some decomposed after hours of immersion in water and mud, continued to be transferred to the gym. Outside the fence, people continued to wait for the next cars to return.

According to Bandong, lifeguards do not have the means to move survivors to evacuation centers, feed them, treat them and help identify bodies.

With Imee, she also needs an ambulance to be taken to the hospital. But Dapadap, who was also injured in the storm, was optimistic: "After we finish burying our father, we will take it back and continue to live."