DAVAO CITY — “I was so scared” says Soledad Gabutero, 74, a person with disability when she was awakened by a heat and smell the fumes of their burning village and her neighbors were shouting for help- their village was on fire.
The Gabutero family, whose house was just above the sea was among the 120 lost their houses having 174 families homeless when the fire broke off past 11:00 in the evening of August 3, 2022, in the coastal village of Punta Dumalag, Barangay Matina Aplaya this city.
The house where the fire broke off was just step away from their abode, ” My husband rushed to save our grandchild while I struggled my way out,” she narrated in vernacular.
She was almost trapped and her grandchild instructed her to jump from the window “I jumped and I shouted for help because I don’t know how to swim, I kept praying-Lord help me, keep me away from harm, I cannot see because of the fumes while I was holding to a very small mangrove tree, I kept crying and I saw three people reaching their hands and fetch me from the water.”
The Gabutero family was saved but there was nothing left for them.
For Hilda Amoroto, the incident left her with nothing, as she ran away when she saw that their house is burning.
The Bureau of Fire Protection declared the fire out at 2:00 in the morning of August 4.
The affected residents are temporarily housed at the barangay gymnasium and are given relief goods and food ration by the city government.
Elizabeth Banzon, of the tropical and nutrition of the City Health Office said :we are conducting a regular feeding program and we are now finalizing the list of qualified families who will be given cash assistance from the City Social Welfare Office.
Contrary to the claim of the BFP. Banzon said “as of 11 in the morning of August 4. the figure they got from the ground reflects 191 families affected but still they need to validate the list from the barangay record.”
The villagers of Punta Dumalag are mostly fisherfolks while few are employed.-Editha Z. Caduaya with reports from Eugene Hinutan and Paul Palacio
