Marawi evacuees in Naga appeal for aid

By Juan Escandor Jr. NAGA CITY---Naima Nurudin, 22, one of more than 60 evacuees from war-torn Marawi City, appeals for assistance amidst trauma and displacement they suffered after safely reaching this city last week. Staying in an apartment a cousin rents in Barangay Triangulo here, Nurudin said they stayed for two weeks in Cagayan de Oro City without food and then travelled more than 1,000 km by bus to Naga City for two days to escape the fighting in their home city. She said they fled the city at the time when the bombs were dropped in the village where they used to live, and then rented a vehicle for P10,000 going to Cagayan de Oro City. With limited provisions and personal belonging they could carry, they braved going to this city where they have relatives living here, she narrated. “In Marawi, if you will not die from the bombs or bullets you will die of hunger,” Nurudin said. In the apartment where they stay with 16 adults and 24 children and minors, their daily provision of food is a great challenge, Armela Bongca-Paki, 40, the apartment tenant hosting the evacuees, revealed. Bongca-Paki said her relatives arrived last week with most of them sick and the children traumatized. At least three children continue to suffer from trauma---one girl lying down all-day long without speaking or just crying and two others would not speak since they experienced the bombing in their village. Nurudin said Analoding Bongca, 26, a father of five small children, is now at the hospital suffering from internal bleeding whom she suspected to have been caused by too much physical stress when they fled the city.