ALBAY – The aftershocks that followed the disastrous 7.8-magnitude earthquake off Sarangani have disrupted livelihoods across the region. In neighboring General Santos City, fisherfolk were among the hardest hit.

“Small fishers especially are going hungry,” Sabina Orozco from the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa told Bulatlat.

From their visits to members in the city, she recounted how one fishing boat was burned and three others broken in the quake’s aftermath. “The aftershocks also kept them from going back to the sea,” she said.

For many of the over a hundred affected members documented so far, the damage went beyond their boats. Partially damaged homes were reported by 101 households, while 28 were left with homes totally destroyed. Orozco said they have yet to receive reports on affected members from Sarangani.

Across Mindanao, at least 65 people were killed, 1,447 injured, and 36 reported missing, while over 57,000 houses were damaged, including over 10,000 totally destroyed, based on latest government data.

One of those families is that of Jennelyn Libawan in Barangay Buayan. With nowhere else to go, her family of six now sleep outside her mother’s partially damaged house. A tarpaulin is now stretched over their bed as their only roof.

In a Facebook interview, Libawan described the hardship of losing their home, especially under heavy rains. “It’s harder for my four children,” she said, noting it was the first time she had experienced an earthquake this destructive. In minutes, their eight-year home and even their television were gone.

Historical records show that the SOCCKSARGEN Region, at the southern tip of Mindanao, is highly seismic. Since 1900, at least 35 earthquakes with magnitudes of more than seven have struck within 300 kilometers of the area.

According to her, her neighbors share the same plight. While food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) have reached them, Libawan said they have yet to hear from the local government for safer temporary shelter.

Still, unlike many municipal fishers, her husband has managed to continue working. Not at sea, but as a helper in a tilapia fishpond.

“There’s still fear in us and among my children,” she said. (RTS, RVO)

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