Typhoon hits some families extra hard

By Cassie DLG Fejeran
Special to the Tribune

Supertyphoon Chaba wreaked havoc on the local community, with destructive winds and heavy rains causing damage to residential homes between late Sunday evening and early Monday morning.

This forced hundreds of people to leave their belongings behind and evacuate to various designated shelters on the islands.

Alan Saures, a resident in Koblerville who evacuated to the Koblerville Elementary School shelter, said he was outside the school when he saw trees begin to fall.

“It was scary,” he said. “All the trees started falling down. We were outside just watching the typhoon go by. According to the office, maybe on Wednesday or Thursday the typhoon will be gone and it will be safe to go home.”

Although it was frightening for many, several shelter seekers indicated that some children seemed unaware of the situation they were in.

“I don’t think they were scared, they were not thinking of the typhoon,” said Diego Okaruru of Dandan. “My brother, his wife and [eight] kids are trying to look for a rental house. We tried to locate a place for us to stay, so we went to Dandan Elementary School and they said it was full. We stayed at my [other] brother’s house. The next day, he went to ask for help in the school and they told us to come here[Koblerville],” he added.

For their part, Edith Vintero of Gualo Rai and her husband visited William S. Reyes Elementary School, seeking for a room to take cover in.

“Our house is totally broken down,” Vintero said. “The floor is the only one left, so we went to the neighbor to eat. Now we don’t have a place to stay. I had to put some clothes in my car and drive around. I stayed in Saipan since 1990, and [it is] only now [that] this happen[ed]. Everything in my house is damaged now.”

According to WSR shelter manager Estanislao Limes, all available rooms at the school were fully occupied by late Sunday night.

“We were full since 10pm, but we tried to squeeze some people in one room. Like this morning [yesterday] we had one come in at 3am that was evacuated by the ambulance,” he said.

MORE WORRIES

It was not just the damaged homes that tormented these families. They were also presented additional hardship at the shelters, as food was scarce and was running out fast.

A resident in Chalan Kanoa who did not disclose her name explained that the lack of food was the biggest problem her family is facing.

“It is too long. If we have to stay, we need something to survive on for at least two more days. We only pray to God to help us,” she said.

Shortage of food, water, and clothing, however, was the least of Walden Beri’s problems. Beri, a Chalan Kiya resident, had his wife admitted to the Commonwealth Health Center yesterday afternoon, shortly after Chaba’s strong wind blew away their rooftop.

“This afternoon [yesterday], my wife was brought to the hospital because she was sick from the typhoon, and she also has thyroid problem. I have no house now, and no one is in the hospital with her. I don’t know where to go for help,” Beri said.

Rito Doca, along with his wife and three children, followed Beri to seek for the nearest typhoon shelter available.

“My kids now have a very bad fever because of the rain. Everybody was scared already and I did not want them to get worse, so we came here,” said Doca.

LENDING A HELPING HAND

Chaba’s fury brought fear and suffering in the eyes of many residents but it also presented Joden Borja, daughter of Marianas High School vice principal Joseph Borja, the opportunity to provide comfort and service to the families.

Despite her birthday being on Saturday, Borja stayed with her father at MHS to assist him with the evacuees.

“I like it because instead of celebrating my birthday, I’m here helping other families. It’s good that I’m helping out my father, even though we hardly sleep, but we keep them company and try to make them feel at home,” she said.

Meanwhile, Aneleen Rebolamei expressed that she was fortunate enough to have her niece Elsie and Kohne Ramon by her side to bring her to the MHS shelter.

“It was around one in the morning when I called 911. They said that they will see if they can come because [the wind] was very strong. They did not come, so this morning I asked my niece [Elsie] if she could bring me here. She is the one always taking care of me,” she said.

Elsie and her husband ventured on the road, visiting several villages to provide transportation for families seeking for a place to stay.

“We went around villages to see if anyone needed a ride,” Elsie said. “This is one family that we brought, because they already called [the Emergency Management Office], but they told them that they could not come.”