As a response to the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses, indigenous youth belonging to the Dumagat-Remontado tribe, with the assistance of PAKISAMA as well as the Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), the Indonesian Institute for Forest and Environment (RMI), and VOICE-Global, facilitated a relief operations for families affected by the disaster in Brgy. Daraitan, Tanay, Rizal Province last December 12 and 13, 2020.
Typhoon Ulysses brought massive amounts of rain, causing the Daraitan River to overflow. This lead to flooding in the community of the Dumagat-Remontado, washing away some of the houses and forcing people to evacuate.
Shortly after, IP youth in the area proceeded with conducting local surveys and organized a local relief drive for affected families.
Before the sorting and initial distribution of the goods, a short sharing and debriefing session was done to learn the experiences of the participants, some of which were personally affected by the disaster.
The participants shared their own experiences during the calamity including their own personal emotions as they witnessed the flood unfolding before them.
Daniela, one of the participants, talked about how her family needed to evacuate during the flooding as their house becomes rapidly submerged in the flood, “My family and I were inside our house when the flood started. I saw how fast the water rose from the nearby river and into our house. We needed to evacuate first to our neighbor’s house, then to the elementary school because the water was still growing.”
The sharing session next tackled the signs the participants consider as indicative of the incoming disaster. This included some unusual behavior from animals and the river. This was coupled with news announcements which some participants said prompted them to prepare. “We saw on the TV that there is a typhoon coming plus we felt like so, so we prepared our things, some food, charged our gadgets, and secured some important documents that may be destroyed,” Rema, a participant said.
After the sharing and workshop, the youth participants then proceeded to sort relief packs consisting of kitchenware, face masks, and beddings. Overall, there were 100 packs distributed to 100 families.
The day after, some participants went to Sitio Manggahan, an adjacent small town from the barangay proper to distribute the remaining relief packs. The journey was difficult given the unpaved roads as well as narrow passages with tall ditches on the side.
The successful distribution was followed by an assessment with participants. All agreed that training on disaster response would be helpful to prepare the community should a similar calamity occur.
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