By Elmer V. Recuerdo
MARABUT, Samar—Preparing for the next disaster, in many communities, is looking for the sturdiest building nearby where people can evacuate to when the need arises.
But in a fishing community in this southernmost town of Western Samar, the safest refuge is a cave bearing the name of the village where it is located. For centuries, the Tinabanan Cave has protected local residents from wars, typhoons and other calamities.
Ahead of its third anniversary, survivors of Typhoon Yolanda commemorated the disaster by conducting an evacuation drill in Tinabanan Cave. This cave has saved the lives of villagers during the onslaught of Yolanda, and the more recent typhoons Ruby and Senyang.
Early on October 28, the sun was up and many men in the coastal village of Tinabanan were just mooring their boats from a long night of fishing when barangay leaders, armed with a blaring megaphone, asked the people to prepare their belongings and prepare for evacuation.
Barangay Kagawad Erma Dejilla, head of the barangay’s disaster-warning team, went house to house to ensure that everybody was aware of the impending typhoon and gave the command: Evacuate to Tinabanan Cave, like what they did in previous disasters and threats to their community. It was a drill to simulate how the community should prepare for an evacuation in times of calamities.
Tinabanan Cave, like many other caves in Samar, has served as a safe refuge for thousands of residents and its forefathers for hundreds of years. It is said that during the Spanish era, the caves were the haven of the resistance movement.
During World War II, the elders said they would run to the caves to seek protection whenever Japanese warplanes were heard approaching.
Two days before Yolanda hit on November 8, 2013, Tinabanan Cave was already teeming with residents of the barangay seeking shelter from “the strongest typhoon to make a landfall in modern history.” At least 15 caves in Samar are known to have provided shelter during Yolanda.
“Previous evacuation centers were school buildings, day-care centers and caves around the area,” Marabut Mayor Ely Ortillo said.
Bringing with them solar panels and lighting equipment, villagers trooped to Tinabanan Cave, where a simulation of what to do in case of medical emergency also happens.
Part of the drill involved lighting the main portion of the cave, the toilets and makeshift kitchen using the TekPak, a portable solar device capable of powering lights, mobile phones and medical devices.
Portable solar-powered electricity, like the TekPak, is currently being proposed to become an integral component in disaster-preparedness programs and humanitarian work. In the aftermath of Yolanda, many communities suffered when they lacked immediate access to electricity or ran out of fuel to power their generators and light their kerosene lamps.
“Our Yolanda experience three years ago taught us that access to a better energy source is an urgent need in vulnerable communities. Renewable energy should become a vital component in disaster-risk reduction and humanitarian work because it is easy to deploy and is not reliant on complicated logistics during disasters,” said Arturo Tahup, project coordinator of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC).
ICSC is a policy group in the Philippines promoting low-carbon development initiatives, sustainable-energy solutions and fair-climate policy in vulnerable countries.
The institute has provided training on solar installations and troubleshooting to hundreds of Yolanda survivors, including those from Tinabanan, under its Solar Scholars program, which aims to turn Yolanda survivors into first responders in times of disaster.
The ICSC is also involved in providing renewable energy in off-grid island communities of Samar.
The evacuation drill was organized by ICSC, in partnership with the local government of Marabut, Food for the Hungry and other civil-society organizations.
In Barangay Suluan, an island barangay in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, where Yolanda first made landfall, ICSC has provided solar-powered street lights that benefit the whole island.