When Super Typhoon Noru hit the provinces of Quezon and Aurora on September 25, 2022, several communities suffered significant damage to infrastructure and homes despite implementing emergency protocols and disaster preparedness and mitigation actions.
When Super Typhoon Noru hit the provinces of Quezon and Aurora on September 25, 2022, several communities suffered significant damage to infrastructure and homes despite implementing emergency protocols and disaster preparedness and mitigation actions.
Typhoon Noru particularly hit the coastal towns of Quezon, such as Burdeos, Panukulan, Patnanungan, Jomalig, General Nakar, and Polillo shortly before nightfall. The typhoon had sustained winds of 195 kilometers (121 miles per hour) and gustiness of up to 240 kph (149 mph).
Government data showed that more than 900,000 people were affected, while damages to agriculture reached P3.12 billion. The livelihood of more than 100,000 farmers and fisherfolks across five regions, including Region IV-A, where Quezon is situated, was severely hit. Farmers lost their crops, such as banana, rice, corn, cassava, abaca, and other high-value crops. Others lost their livestock and small poultry farms. The volume of production loss has been pegged at 158,117 metric tons, covering 170,762 hectares of land.
Unfortunately, affected communities received very little assistance from the government and other groups, which was attributed to a lack of national media coverage of the impact of the disaster.
The Dumagat of Quezon
Even before the typhoon hit, the poverty incidence among Indigenous Peoples (IPs) was high at 49.5% in 2018, based on the data of the Philippine Statistics Authority. Besides having limited access to education, healthcare, and basic services, they continue to face discrimination and marginalization because of a lack of public awareness and education on IPs, their culture, and their importance to the country’s national identity.
The Dumagat Tribe, who lives in the IP community of Sitio Mactang in Barangay Umiray, was among those devastated when Super Typhoon Noru hit the coastal town of General Nakar in Quezon province. They rely on hunting, fishing, and gathering to sustain themselves.
Chieftain Melvin Ramos Natividad (middle) with his wife Susan Natividad (far left) and their children were one of the families affected by the devastation of STY Noru when it hit a Dumagat community in Sitio Mactang, Brgy. Umiray in General Nakar, Quezon Province. Their family received 3,000-peso multi-purpose cash assistance as part of Oxfam Pilipinas and partner Community Organizers Multiversity’s Super Typhoon Noru Emergency Response. (Photo: Vina Salazar/Oxfam Pilipinas)
“We wouldn’t have thought it possible, but we have become even poorer. Most of us lost almost everything,” Dumagat Tribe Chieftain Melvin Ramos Natividad said.
Like most Dumagats, Natividad lives in small huts made of nipa roofs and coconut lumber. His wife Susan said they heard warnings that a strong typhoon was coming, so they tied their huts with rope to the nearby trees.
When Noru hit, the entire family, including the children, huddled on the ground and held on tightly to the posts as they tried to keep themselves covered under a piece of tarpaulin as the rain fell hard.
“The roof blew completely off. All the children were crying, and all of us were so cold because the wind was blowing so hard, and the rain did not stop all night,” Susan said.
Sadly, most of their belongings got lost in the rain and wind, and all they had left were the clothes they were wearing. Whatever food they had stored was lost and the pots were filled with rainwater. When they went to see their crops to see what had survived, they saw that all the bananas ready for harvesting were scattered everywhere.
“We had to shoo away the pigs that had gotten loose from our neighbors’ pens. The animals were already eating the bananas, and those were the only food left for us to eat,” Susan said.
Many of the coconut trees they had also been tending were felled by the strong winds.
To support the affected communities, Oxfam Pilipinas and its partner Community Organizers Multiversity (COM) trekked for 12 hours from the barangay proper to the Dumagat community to distribute multipurpose cash assistance amounting to Php 3,000 each for typhoon-affected families.
Natividad said many Dumagat families could buy essential food and a few things they needed for their homes.
Ronaldo “Kaban” Penamente Piston (far right) and his family received 3,000-peso multi-purpose cash assistance as part of Oxfam Pilipinas and partner Community Organizers Multiversity’s Super Typhoon Noru Emergency Response. (Photo: Vina Salazar/Oxfam Pilipinas)
Ronaldo “Kabang” Penamente Piston, 42, a member of the Dumagat Tribe, said they immediately bought rice, sugar, coffee, bathing soap, bottles of chlorine and laundry detergent, and a few used clothes or “ukay-ukay” for the children. He said they also bought notebooks and ballpens for their children attending school.
For his part, Chieftain Melvin said that they mainly purchased food such as sugar and coffee. He and his wife, Susan, also have eight children.
“We are very grateful for the Php 3,000 given to each of our families. It was very helpful to us. We are also grateful that the staff of Oxfam and COM made the great effort to visit our community to see for their own eyes how our lives are and how we survive daily. It was the first time for some of us to see outsiders, and the knowledge that there are people who cared about whether we live or die during calamities and after meant much to us,” Natividad said.
Moving Forward
More than six months after the typhoon hit, Chieftain Melvin admitted that much has yet to be done to address the long-term needs of the community.
“We hope that groups like Oxfam or the government can help us build and improve our school. Currently, there are only three teachers, and they have to teach our children at different ages, often all at the same time,” he said.
A total of 40 Dumagat children attend the alternative learning school in Mactang. Still, many of these children go only once or two times a week because it is located two kilometers from their community.
He also expressed their need for a more stable means of livelihood.
A member of Dumagat tribe painting a wood raft to be used in the boat they are building.
The boat will be used to transport the yantok or rattan they gathered and sell it to handicraft
makers. (Photo: Vina Salazar/Oxfam Pilipinas)
“We are all willing to learn new skills which can help us earn, but for now, what can benefit us is if we had our boats to transport our bananas, coconuts, seaweed, and yantok to the market. Diesel costs so much, and it is actually what makes the boat rent expensive. We would get more for our crops if we did not have to pay so much to get them to the market,” he explained.
Judy Ann Reambonanza (middle) from Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Katutubong Agham at Teknolohiya (SIKAT), together with Mariphel Salgado (left) and Rechcin Concilles (right), proudly recalls and demonstrates how to apply knot-tying techniques to transport a person. This is part of the skills they acquired from the Water, Safety, Rescue, and Survival Techniques (WASAR) training.
Humanitarian and development organization Oxfam Pilipinas urges local governments to shift from reactive spending to a proactive approach by utilizing local calamity funds, also known as the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Funds (LDRRMF) effectively.
Maricar Eranista has worked as a barangay health worker (BHW) for 13 years. She and the other BHWs are the front liners in their community regarding health concerns in Umiray, Gen. Nakar, Quezon.
Community Organizers Multiversity (COM) is a non-government organization based in Mindanao. Because of its extensive experience in providing humanitarian assistance in difficult-to-reach areas, the CO Multiversity has become one of the reliable partners of Oxfam Pilipinas in implementing its humanitarian programs on the ground.
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