“I lost three of my children in the floods,” laments 30-year old Winnie Abalayan, resident of Sitio Kala-Kala in Macasandig town, Cagayan de Oro City.
Her entire community of some 400 households was completely wiped out by devastating floods after Typhoon Sendong struck the city last December 16.
Abalayan was one of the survivors assisted by the two-day relief and rehabilitation mission led by BALSA MINDANAO (Bulig Alang sa Mindanao/Help Mindanao), a network of concerned citizens, organizations, and disaster response institutions.
BALSA Mindanao hoped to express its solidarity with the people of Northern Mindanao before the coming of the New Year. On December 29-30, it held the Mindanao Caravan to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan with 350 volunteers mostly composed of religious and young people coming from General Santos, Davao, Bukidnon, Butuan, Pagadian, and Dipolog cities.
The relief operations served a total of 3,100 families in Macasandig ang Consolacion villages in Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City. These areas are regarded as the most gravely affected by the calamity.
The citizen-led mission included feeding, distribution of relief packs, medical services, and psychosocial therapy/debriefing. It mobilized nearly 200 volunteers and served about a thousand affected families in Iligan City. The relief operations were the second it conducted after it also distributed relief and food packs before Christmas in various affected communities in the poblacion area.
