BOHOL, Philippines – More than two months ago, 59-year-old Arcenia Waram was working in their rice fields in Sagbayan, Bohol, when the ground began to shake.
She started praying for her children in Manila and Cebu because she was convinced the earthquake was happening everywhere. She thought it was the end of the world. “Ingon ko: Lord, katapusan na ba gyud ni?” she said. (Lord, is this the end?)
When it finally stopped, they went home to see their new house in ruins. Life became an even steeper uphill climb in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
But when they turned on the TV on November 8, they saw that in the nearby Samar and Leyte islands, people were going through a nightmare much worse than their own.
Waram and other members of the barangay decided to give what they could to victims of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). “Nanghatag mi ngadto, kanang mga tinapa,” she said. (We gave the barangay dried fish for [Yolanda survivors].”
Waram, who today shares a tent with her husband, two children and 4 grandchildren, remembers being afraid of what Yolanda could do to Bohol. Yolanda avoided the earthquake-hit province and instead barreled across other parts of the Visayas.
“Nahatag pud mi kay naghuna-huna mi nga naa pa’y mas labaw sa amo na nanginahanlan. Makita baya pud namo sa TV na hala, luoy kaayo mga bata,” she said. (We gave what we could because we kept thinking: a lot of people need more than we do. We saw it on TV, we felt sorry for the children.)
“Kung ikatulo ta sa isa ka adlaw makakaon, mahimo ta’g ikaduha kay naa mas labaw pa nato,” she added. (Even if we have to cut down our meals from three to two a day, it’s okay because other people need it more.)
Waram knows how hard life can be after a huge disaster. Her kids always get coughs and colds from the cold nights and scorching hot afternoons inside the tent.
“Dili baya pud lalim. Kay kini bitaw nahitabo sa amo. Hantod karon dili pako ganahan mutulog,” she said. (It’s not easy. I still don’t want to sleep because of what happened to us.)
The aftershocks aren’t as frequent as before, but every jolt brings them back to that morning on October 15. The magnitude 7.2 earthquake, with its epicenter in Sagbayan, took the lives of more than 200. Less than a month later, Yolanda took the lives of at least 6,000. – Rappler.com