Bicol still in the dark after ‘Ulysses’

Weeks after three typhoons ravaged the Bicol region, challenges posed by the pandemic have worsened.

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY RUBEN BELMONTE

IRIGA CITY — Since the last week of October, in the days leading up to All Saints’ Day, the whole Bicol region remained shrouded in darkness due to three consecutive typhoons that entered the Philippines in November.

Tropical cyclone Quinta, super typhoon Rolly, and Category 4-equivalent typhoon Ulysses carved their way through the country, with Bicol being the first to witness their intense wrath.

Strong winds, heavy rains, and flash floods brought upon by Typhoon Ulysses greeted the Southern Tagalog region as early as November 11. This came after two previous storms, Quinta and Rolly, made their way through the country only less than a few weeks apart, leaving several homes destroyed and families displaced.

Week after week, Bicolanos seemed to grow accustomed to bracing for another typhoon, even with the need to fix their ruined homes and properties. City- and region-wide blackouts were felt, signal reception was nowhere to be found, and week-long floods in downtown areas of the region were reported.

Roughly a million families were evacuated to safe areas, despite the threat of Covid-19 still looming. Most middle-class houses partly braved the storms while a lot of bamboo-made homes were blown away by strong gusts of wind and washed by heavy rainfall. All of these, while fathoming just what the families had to go through.

The fallout lingered for a couple more weeks as it has been catalyzed by how several local government units behaved during these trying times. Some were “missing-in-action” or have been taken advantage of by using tragedies as a platform for political campaigns.

Worse, students in Bicol continue to endure pre-existing anxiety and stress brought about by online classes. The typhoons made it more only palpable, primarily due to missing academic responsibilities.

The struggles were too intense that figuring out how to reach the University and their professors was just one of the significan’t causes of mental strife.

Almost a month has passed since the storms, and even now, Bicolano students still struggle to secure Internet connection, while other families fight to survive in this newer normal.

While hope remains for the people of the region, there is still a long way to go towards recovery. But for now, Bicol remains in the dark.