4 Matnog villages receive relief goods 'Ako Bicol'

MATNOG, Sorsogon ---- Some 1,000 families victims of Typhoon Tisoy benefited from relief goods distributed by Ako Bicol (AKB) and Sunwest Care Foundation.

The groups provided the relief assistance to some families consisting of over 5,000 individuals on Saturday, Dec. 6. Most of the houses of the recipients were destroyed by storm surge aggravated by heavy rains and winds spawned by the typhoon that battered the Bicol region on the night and early morning of Dec. 2-3.

The beneficiaries of the relief operation were from the coastal villages of Banuang-daan, Sta Isabel, Tablac, and Majumlad, all in Matnog, Sorsogon. The town is considered as a gateway to Luzon for travellers coming from the Visayas and Mindanao.

Selima So, village chief of Barangay Banuang-daan , in an interview, said 70 or 40 percent of the 170 houses in her village were destroyed by storm surge that hit the village at around 8 pm that fatefull night.

Aside from the storm surge, flood that flowed down from nearby mountain slopes inundated her village with neck deep flood waters, So said.

She said the typhoon rendered 350 families homeless. The affected residents are now temporarily staying with their relatives.

According to So, ‘Tisoy’ also left her barangay with no potable water source forcing residents to walk three kilometers to fetch water in Barangay Sinibiran. She said they have to shell out P20 per water container.

So expressed gratitude to Ako Bicol for providing aid to her villagers affected by the typhoon. AKB solons led by Elizaldy “Zaly” S. Co and Pido Garbin distributed relief goods to typhoon stricken communities in Sorsogon province specifically in Matnog and Gubat towns over the weekend here.

The typhoon has also wrought tremendous financial losses to business establishments engaged in the tourism and resort industry in the area. “We have lost millions of pesos of our investment just in a sweep of time," a resort owner said.

Meanwhile, Jan Arthur D. Primo of the Matnog Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office said that 8,499 households were affected by the typhoon with one casualty. At least 1,558 houses were totally destroyed, while 6,846 houses were partially damaged. Some 38.27 hectares of rice farms, 8.0 hectares of corn crops and 79.37 hectares of high valued crops were also affected.