‘Odette’ kills 3 in Moalboal
By Cherry Ann T. Lim
THREE people were killed in Moalboal as Typhoon Odette (Rai) laid siege to the southwestern Cebu town for four hours last December 16, 2021.
Boatman Carlito Cabaron was found dead in the neighboring town of Badian, after first being reported missing, the Municipality of Moalboal announced Wednesday, December 29.
Rowel and Ritchel Quillano, a father and his three-year-old daughter, of Barangay Agbalanga were also killed after a coconut tree hit their house, the local government unit (LGU) said.
Typhoon Odette hit Moalboal from 9 p.m. of December 16 to 1 a.m. the next day, hours after which Mayor Paz Rozgoni and Vice Mayor Inocentes Cabaron surveyed the damage and declared the houses, business establishments, public market buildings and fruit stands in the town to have been “badly hit.”
“Beaches and resorts were washed out. Corals are damaged, which will take decades to recover,” the LGU said in a statement.
In a message to fellow Moalboalanons posted on the town’s Facebook page Wednesday, Rozgoni said of the aftermath of the storm: “As I walked around, I saw fallen trees, toppled posts, damaged houses, and poorly accessible roads. … Moalboal seemed to be ground zero. There was no electricity, no communication lines, and there was very limited supply of drinkable water.”
Even handheld radios were not serviceable after the typhoon.
Thirteen days after the storm, however, Rozgoni reported that after relief assistance poured in from the Cebu Provincial Government, the LGUs of Daanbantayan and Tuburan, the Department of Public Works and Highways 7th Engineering District and the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, among others, all the approximately 9,322 households across the town’s 15 barangays had received a first wave of assistance.
Donations have come in for the town in the form of cash, rice, canned goods, water and building materials.
The Office of the President provided P100,000 in cash.
The Province of Cebu also provided one generator set with fuel, while Daanbantayan town sent two boom trucks and two teams for clearing and relief.
Tuburan town sent 500 liters of diesel fuel while QM Builders sent 1,500 liters of diesel fuel to be used for the town’s generator sets and vehicles.
Mayor Rozgoni said power lines along the national highway had slowly been restored since December 25.
As for communication, she said cellular phones could be used for sending text messages and making calls only in the Wharf and Panagsama areas so far, and that Internet connection was still intermittent.
Odette badly hit six regions in the Visayas and Mindanao: Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Caraga.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has placed the death toll due to Odette at 397 nationwide. / CTL
