Olongapo Landslide

Friday morning September 30 and it was almost lunchtime. What I was doing right then I cannot recall anymore. Well, I was working on the computer. Writing? Reading? All of a sudden there was this loud thunder. It is the wet season and rain was pouring down heavenly. As always the first thunder almost made me jump out of the chair because I cannot see any lightning first when it is daytime. But once I know there is lightning and thunder in the air I am pretty fine. Pretty relaxed I went on with what I was doing. Also, there was some more laundry to do but for some unknown reason I finished the first load, hang it out to dry but I had not filled the machine with the second load yet. Since it was raining I had to hang all clean clothes in the back room behind the kitchen. We call it the laundry room.

While I was behind the computer, I heard a loud rumbling sound and at first, I thought it was another thunder. “What kind of strange thunder was that?” was the question that then came up and I decided to check the laundry room. I opened the screen door and –very weird!- all I can remember is that I saw a huge pile of mud, stones, and trash outside and also I remember I saw the male alley cat, covered in mud, jumping up and running outside. A wall of muddy trash then approached me and instinctively I slammed the screen door. At the front door, I heard the woman who rents the last apartment scream for help so I hurried to see what I could do. My guess is that at this kind of moment you do not even think. You just react and do the right things. I opened the front door and saw the woman, shaking all over while she told me there had been a landslide. At the same time, I saw big chairs being flushed away through our neighbors’ front door. In less than 10 seconds they were on the other side of the street, about 50 meters away. 

From that moment on all happened so fast that I cannot even precisely prescribe what happened and in what order. The old woman left and I walked back inside and was a bit surprised to find out that there was only a small flow of muddy water coming in underneath the screen door. But also I saw the level of muddy, brown water in the laundry room rise. 

This was just the beginning

The small wooden cabinet was floating and also the washing machine. Then the water started coming in via the small windows between that room and our kitchen. Now it was time to act to start saving things. The first thing I took was the big sack with rice. 

 

It's going further

The shoes in my friend I can recall as well plus the two electric fans. The daughter of our direct neighbors came to ask if she could use our comfort room. Of course, she could. I noticed that she was not panicking at all and when she returned she asked if I had a pair of boots which I handed over to her. I had to let my friend, who rents the apartment, know what just had happened and I sent him a message. Immediately he called me but me and cell phones; that is another disaster. While I was taking pictures he kept on calling and I refused every call. Then this message came “Sent my pictures, video idiot”. I replied “Idiot yourself! I’m busy here!”. Looking back we can laugh about it. I could understand him asking for pictures but his ongoing calling and messaging stopped me from doing what he wanted. And he, of course, could not know under what circumstances I was. By now the water was running all through the house and I knew I had to move things to dryer places.

 

Now it was in front of the house where the gym equipment stands

It did not take that long before I found myself down on the floor to sweep the water out of the front door, using a firm rug since that was the only thing I could think of (and find) at that moment. But as firm as the rug seemed to be, it was not firm enough for this job and I went looking for something sturdier. The lit of the icebox! That showed to be a better tool and on I went sweeping the water out. Every now and then I walked to the back to see if the level was still rising but ‘fortunately’ it had stopped at about 1.5 meter high. 

No surprise at all the power was cut off quite soon. Now I had to get load so at least I could stay in contact with my friend. At the small store the woman immediately asked me what had happened in our place and if I had pics to show her. The street was filled with people, all watching. Some brought back the furniture that I had seen being washed away. My friend sent me a message that he was on his way home but the bus could not go on because a part of the road was flooded. Meanwhile I was going back and forth sweeping water out of the front door and in the back I swept it into the comfort room so it could leave via the draining system there. After a few hours my arms and lower back were aching but I felt I could not stop. I would have loved to show a dry floor upon my friend’s homecoming but that of course was wishful thinking. The idea of him, having to see all this mess, hurt me a lot. But what could I do? One cannot do all that is needed sometimes.

 

The evening after

To be continued.

Love the ones you’re with and be loved in return