austraLasia 1455
Bishop's hopes for buried flock rely on prayer
Sourced from local reports
MAASIN: 19th February 2006: Bishop Cantillas, youngish Salesian bishop of Maasin, a suffragan diocese of Cebu, was described by Rome's L'AvvenireSunday edition as 'in a state of shock' over the tragedy which has befallen the tiny village of Guinsaugon. Media reports talk of a 'coastal village' but this is not quite accurate. St. Bernard, the chief centre, is indeed coastal, but Guinsaugon is inland from there, the end of the existing road in fact, which led to the foot of a mountain - the mountain which collapsed on Friday and, it would seem, has wiped out 90% or more of the inhabitants along with a number of visitors, mostly women, who had gathered there that day to celebrate. Bishop Cantillas had only just returned from Hong Kong, he explains, but immediately saw that Fr. Gohetia, the diocesan crisis coordinator, was on the scene and that the entire resources of the diocese were put at the disposal of the rescue effort, opening up parish and school buildings and religious communities to take in survivors and relocated persons.
Unfortunately, survivors are few. Again, world media speak in broad figures of 1,500, 1,800, 2000 - it is clear that nobody quite knows how many people were there that day. Bishop Cantillas says he knows there are normally 300 families in the village. The actual recovery figures (there are two groups offering them and they differ just slightly) are 409-411 survivors, 50-53 confirmed dead and between 891 and 962 missing. The survivors, however, are people who survived in the first instance. There are stories already emerging of their lucky escape. 28 year old farmer Christopher Lipato, for example, who was grazing caribao at around 10.am. He ran and kept ahead of the mud and rocks engulfing the village - but lost all and everyone. It seems that to date the ones who were what the rescue teams call 'surface survivors' can be counted on one hand.
The area has long been known to be geologically unstable. The first major disaster was reported in 1749 and literally tens of thousands of people in the immediate area have died since then through landslides, volcanic activity and floods. Natural forest cover has been largely replaced by coconut palms which do not take deep root. The Bishop himself indicated that landslides in the area are almost a daily occurrence. He recognises that humanly speaking, after the tragic event on Friday, there is little hope of recovery, but hopes at another level that there are still people to be found alive, especially in the buried school premises. He believes in the power of prayer in this situation, at least to help make sense of what has occurred. Back in Manila, in the seat of government, where reports of geological surveys had already identified the possibilities for this disaster, the questions are already too late.
There are no Salesians, other than the bishop himself, in the Maasin diocese.
________________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
Bishop's hopes for buried flock rely on prayer
Sourced from local reports
MAASIN: 19th February 2006: Bishop Cantillas, youngish Salesian bishop of Maasin, a suffragan diocese of Cebu, was described by Rome's L'AvvenireSunday edition as 'in a state of shock' over the tragedy which has befallen the tiny village of Guinsaugon. Media reports talk of a 'coastal village' but this is not quite accurate. St. Bernard, the chief centre, is indeed coastal, but Guinsaugon is inland from there, the end of the existing road in fact, which led to the foot of a mountain - the mountain which collapsed on Friday and, it would seem, has wiped out 90% or more of the inhabitants along with a number of visitors, mostly women, who had gathered there that day to celebrate. Bishop Cantillas had only just returned from Hong Kong, he explains, but immediately saw that Fr. Gohetia, the diocesan crisis coordinator, was on the scene and that the entire resources of the diocese were put at the disposal of the rescue effort, opening up parish and school buildings and religious communities to take in survivors and relocated persons.
Unfortunately, survivors are few. Again, world media speak in broad figures of 1,500, 1,800, 2000 - it is clear that nobody quite knows how many people were there that day. Bishop Cantillas says he knows there are normally 300 families in the village. The actual recovery figures (there are two groups offering them and they differ just slightly) are 409-411 survivors, 50-53 confirmed dead and between 891 and 962 missing. The survivors, however, are people who survived in the first instance. There are stories already emerging of their lucky escape. 28 year old farmer Christopher Lipato, for example, who was grazing caribao at around 10.am. He ran and kept ahead of the mud and rocks engulfing the village - but lost all and everyone. It seems that to date the ones who were what the rescue teams call 'surface survivors' can be counted on one hand.
The area has long been known to be geologically unstable. The first major disaster was reported in 1749 and literally tens of thousands of people in the immediate area have died since then through landslides, volcanic activity and floods. Natural forest cover has been largely replaced by coconut palms which do not take deep root. The Bishop himself indicated that landslides in the area are almost a daily occurrence. He recognises that humanly speaking, after the tragic event on Friday, there is little hope of recovery, but hopes at another level that there are still people to be found alive, especially in the buried school premises. He believes in the power of prayer in this situation, at least to help make sense of what has occurred. Back in Manila, in the seat of government, where reports of geological surveys had already identified the possibilities for this disaster, the questions are already too late.
There are no Salesians, other than the bishop himself, in the Maasin diocese.
________________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
