By Rhaydz B. Barcia, Correspondent
Legazpi City: Mario Miña was tending his farm in Matanag, a village on the southeast slope of Mount Mayon, in February 1993 when the volcano unleashed a torrent of lava in a spectacular eruption.
Mario didn’t have time to escape. He and 76 other farmers died that day.
Thirteen years later, his son, Romar, only has a photo of his father to remember him by. Romar was just 18 months old then.
On Saturday, as the volcano showed signs of blowing again, Romar visited a concrete marker topped by a white cross where his father and the other victims of the 1993 eruption were buried.
Antonio Alcera, 55, the village chieftain of Matanag, told The Manila Times that the fatalities came from the villages of Matanag, Buyuan, Mabinit and Bonga.
“It’s heartbreaking because every time Mayon erupts, I think of my father’s fate and I’m completely terrified,” Romar, now a fifth grader at the Matanag Elementary School, told The Times.
From the marker, Romar led The Times to his home to show the picture of his father. “This is my precious keepsake,” he said in the local dialect. His mother, Rosie, has since remarried. Romar lives with her and his stepfather and three other siblings.
Veronica Perez, 73, survived Mayon’s fury in 1993 but lost her husband, Federico, and her youngest son, Rafael.
“I was harvesting our sweet potato and we were able to collect at least three sacks. My husband arrived, bringing our lunch. We were eating when I heard a deafening sound. I thought a plane had crashed.”
A few minutes later Veronica said her body was swept by a surge of hot air. She felt a burning on her back. Hot ash and rocks were falling all over the place.
“Rafael rescued me. Unfortunately he was hit by molten rocks,” she said.
Veronica carries a unique and painful memento of that day. There is a scar on her back that eerily resembles Mayon’s cone shape. She said that whenever the volcano is restive, she feels the scar heats up.
In 2000 a total of 3,047 families resided in the 10 villages at the foot of the volcano declared a danger zone by authorities. The latest count showed only 1,484 families remain.
The holdouts are in the municipalities of Malilipot, Daraga, Camalig, Ligao and in Tabaco City.
Residents of Mabinit and nearby areas told The Times that when the volcano is restive they’re worried but they could not leave the slopes because they have farms there.
Residents living in Albay face another threat. Heavy and continuous rain could turn the 60 million tons of volcanic materials left on Mayon’s from the 2000 and 2001 eruptions into a deadly cascade of lahar.
Mayon Volcano has a major eruption every 5 to 10 years, and each eruption disrupts the economic growth of the rural communities around it.
About 65,000 to 83,000 people are directly affected by a major eruption. A prolonged eruption can affect more than 114,000 people. Agricultural activities are active in the area such as vegetable farming, animal raisings, copra making and ornamental-plant picking.
Since 1616 the volcano has erupted over 50 times. The worst was on February 1, 1814, when more than 1,200 people were killed and the towns of Camalig, Cagsawa and Budiao and half of Guinobatan were left in ruins.
[Source]
No comments:
Post a Comment