Quake evacuees face flash floods, lack of drinking water

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The situation for earthquake-affected villagers at the boundary of Datu Paglas, Maguindanao and North Cotabato's Tulunan town worsened as flash floods swept through their villages late Friday.

Members of the municipal disaster risk reduction and management council in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao and motorcyclists belonging to the Cowboy Riders group rescued dozens of families as rampaging flood waters spawned by heavy downpours swept through their barangays on Friday night.

Houses of many families in Maguindanao's Datu Paglas municipality, an immediate neighbor of Tulunan, were damaged by tremors that jolted central Mindanao on October 16, followed by more than a thousand aftershocks, the last of which was felt 2:28 a.m. Saturday.

Help from Lanao del Sur

Calamity responders and relief workers from the office of the provincial governor of Lanao del Sur were dispatched on Friday to North Cotabato to deliver two truckloads of relief supplies for evacuees.

Gov. Mamintal Adiong, Jr. said Saturday they are ready to relocate Maranao residents of North Cotabato's earthquake-stricken M'lang, Tulunan and Makilala towns and in the provincial capital, Kidapawan City, to their hometowns in Lanao del Sur.

Adiong said the provincial government can help transport displaced Maranaos who may decide to return to their home province.

He said their efforts are coordinated with the office of lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo, local government minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

READ: Where to volunteer, send donations for Mindanao earthquake victims

Potable water, tarpaulins for shelter needed

Evacuees have been making calls over radio stations in Kidapawan City for donations of bottled water and tarpaulins that they can use as roofing material for temporary shelters.

Residents displaced by earthquakes are trying to survive through the ordeal of a lack of water in evacuation sites that do not have comfort rooms either.

No fewer than 20 broadcast journalists in different radio stations in North Cotabato were also badly affected by earthquakes.

Houses of reporters of the largest radio outfit in Kidapawan City, the Catholic station dxND, were damaged too.

Some now wear crash helmets while inside broadcast booths when hosting programs because of the aftershocks.

Community leaders have also urged the Department of Trade and Industry to strictly enforce an earlier price freeze on commercial goods sold in North Cotabato.