Tents, Plastic Bottles, And Faith: Life After 6.9 Quake In Northern Cebu

Today is the fifth day after the magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit Northern Cebu. I am not sure how everyone is doing now, but in our area, we are adjusting comprehensively so far to the new way of living outside our homes. Goods and essentials are on their way and are being distributed successfully to the recipients. Electricity has been restored and water is available, although not consistent. Days are becoming better and better for me, and slowly, we are recovering and doing the activities we need to do in our area.

I want to let you know how we are living now as earthquake victims, and this narration is from the lens of one of the survivors. This is my second time posting in this community, and I hope it reaches more kindred hearts.

Before the earthquake, it was already announced in our area that a feast was coming soon, and we were divided into precincts for some competitions. Supposedly, we should have started on Wednesday, but since that unfortunate event struck our homeland, we had to recover a little first before going back to community engagement.

We are still living in tents, but this time outside our houses, which is safe now since the aftershocks are not as aggressive anymore. We still think about it because we have to stay alert. We are fortunate to be safe now.

These are our current homes — tents established, with tarpaulins and trapals used for roofs since it rains sometimes these days, and leveled plywoods built for our beds. It might look bad and sad, which is true, but the people in our area are making sure to remain joyful in this time of calamity. The thoughts of fear are not always in us; rather, we choose to laugh and burst with happiness in this place.

Early in the morning, we started crafting decorations for our precinct design. We have a competition for the best precinct design, and even if there was a calamity, we are bound to honor the Immaculate Saint of our feast.

Everyone is cooperating, and we started with tiny designs that look like parol-inspired bottle crafts representing the feast, such as hanging crosses and altars.

Our main material for these crafts is plastic bottles, which come from the donated goods of private groups since day one.

When emptied, we put them in trash bags for this purpose. It’s a double-purpose good — we survived each day drinking donated water, and now we are using the bottles for our precinct designs. How cool it is to think of using them this way!

We did everything from cutting to connecting the designs. This one is made from a plastic bottle’s body cut into strips for the header of the parols. But since we still don’t have other types of bottles that should be bigger, we weren’t able to attach them and complete the final look.

This one is a twirling parol. A pattern when cutting is needed to achieve this twirl. Once cut perfectly, the parol will spin with the wind like a ballerina smoothly turning on stage. We used green water bottles from Mountain Dew drinks.

Another one is also from Mountain Dew plastic bottles, which we cut like leaves. These are formed into flowers from six leaves and connected using glue sticks to make them firm.

We also used orange foil for the center of the parols. We cut it like leaves with flat edges and a size good enough to cover half of the water bottles.

Then we attached the water bottles to form a flower-like parol.

This is the final product, at least in form, since we still have to paint it for a more creative presentation. It shows both the back and front structure.

This is my dog sleeping outside our tent. He used to sleep on his bed comfortably before the earthquake, but now he is trying to adjust to his new sleeping space.

Some bases of water bottles that were cut for the leaves — instead of throwing them away, we will use them as little pots for our landscape soon.

Everyone is helping and trying to do things in this little safe space in our area. You can see how we are making sense of the situation and trying to be productive amid calamity.

I then remembered I had flower bouquets in my bedroom which could be a good design for the precinct. There were four bouquets, and I let them borrow all four. I just asked them a favor to take care of them as they have deep value for me. The flowers are sets of tulips, sampaguitas, and roses, I think, but the colors are not realistic.

I cannot share some of the final designs here since we are not finished yet, as we lack materials for now. The important thing is that we started already and will have a reason to finish it soon.

By four in the afternoon, we gathered in the area where we will put our designs. It is just beside the road, right at the entrance.

Some wild grasses and weeds were forming in the landscape, but we didn’t want them in our designs, so we decided to cut them with the help of teens and kids in our area.

The sky is blue, and the light is brighter now. The trees form perfectly, bordering the sky in a hopeful way. Such a good manner to view the day today — positive and bright.

These are the kids helping us put the cut grasses in the trash. They are very passionate and joyous in helping us, and they honestly made our cleanup drive lighter as we saw their laughter and glittering eyes fill our space.

Adults were cleaning the ground, cutting the grasses, and sweeping debris to clear the area.

This kid and my uncle were digging a hole for the post where we will attach a curved tube for the entrance and design it with florals. But we are still far from finishing it.

This day is indeed so productive and brighter than the other days. Even as we are recovering, we make sure to move a little and do the normal activities we did before the earthquake. The crafts and cleanup drive mean so much to me, as they remind me that brighter days are coming. I cannot present to you the final products of our crafts and the final design of our precinct. I will write a separate blog for that.

Thank you for reading this time, and I hope you enjoyed it. We are still in need of goods for other barangays that have not yet recovered. You can donate to them, either monetarily or non-monetarily — the decision is yours. Life will be better for them if you lend a hand. See you soonest!