Ormoc remembers 1991 flashflood

CEBU, Philippines- On the 5th of November 1991, more than 8000 lives were lost when flood waters came rushing down, passing through the city center towards the sea.

The volume of water and the considerable velocity of its current ravaged houses, buildings and anything along its path, while making the container vans, stationed at the time in the upper portion of the city, float like matchboxes.

The devastation of properties was unimaginable, but was negligible compared to the lives lost and the sorrows of those who, in the aftermath, have to dig in the mountain of mud-covered corpses just to find their loved ones who died from the rumbling flood that struck before noon. That was 23 years ago.

The commemoration activity held today on top of the tomb of the mass grave is centered on the importance of offering prayers for those who perished.

To the victims, ”R.I.P. will mean Remember Me, Intercede for Me and Pray for Me and for the living Rest In Peace,” said Father Danilo Pongos in his homily.

While government officials, led by Mayor Edward Codilla, propounded the need for Ormocanons to be always aware of the benefits of a healthy environment in mitigating similar disasters.

City Councilor Ruben Capahi, who lost his mother Nita (then city budget officer) during the flashflood, narrated how he and family suffered the untimely loss. “In 23 years, there is no single day that passes without me remembering my mother,” he said during his testimony that brought those present at the ceremony teary-eyed.

Mother Nita was swept towards the sea when a container van crumpled the Capahi residence. Her bloated body was found three days later. A rescue banca towed her to the City Plaza’s stage where all the dead recovered from Ormoc Bay were piled up.

“We’re always waiting for information and we have to hurry as soon as we (family) got one or my mother will be among those in the mass graves because of community health concerns,” Capahi told The Freeman. “I don’t know, but despite the similar state and altered bodies of corpses I was very sure when I saw my mother. I can’t explain but I knew it’s her.”

Like in the movies, the Capahi family built a makeshift  “kaban” and carried the matriarch to the cemetery up a hilly area, some two kilometers away from the poblacion. “With nowhere else to bury, we dug up a shallow grave underneath a tree and put her (mother) there,” narrated the councilor. “We can’t dig any deeper since we hit a concrete slab beneath,” he added.

In the end, Capahi found solace with his friends, neighbors, relatives and the entire community. “Knowing that others were victims too and had suffered more losses than I do, somewhat eased my pain.”

The councilor then concluded that Ormoc’s greatest assets in rebounding back, whenever a major disaster hit, are the people. “We prayed, we survived.. One city, moving on …,” said Capahi. (FREEMAN)