But aftershocks are still ongoing, although most are not felt, which gives us worry about resting quietly in the house with the idea that anytime the ground will shake with no certainty of how intense it could be. During our precinct meeting, we were advised not to stay indoors to be safe since there are predictions that a strong tremor may occur again as part of putting the plates completely in their place.
With that advisory, we decided to make a makeshift tent from tarpaulin rolls and wood just beside our house to have a safe rest. I wasn’t able to take a photo during the process of building this tent, so I’ll just give you a little tour of it. We have been resting in it for two nights now, and so far, we feel safe and unworried because these are built from light materials—hence, not dangerous if they collapse. But this one won’t collapse, I believe. It will hold for my family’s safety. Upon building, we decided to divide the tent into three: a space for my parents, my elder brother’s family, and one for me and my little brothers.
The reason why we covered each other’s spaces is to still give a sense of privacy even if we are living in this very little home temporarily. It is quite spacious, actually, if you see the inside personally. For my parents’ space, they have one bed and a table for their food and attached some clip fans instead of stand fans because there are nights of heavy rain. For my brother’s family, they bought a katre (a bed made from bamboo and wood) which can occupy four people—the total number of his family.
And for us, we had two beds since my little brothers move around the bed while sleeping, which can disturb one if placed in a very small bed. I know this one looks small since the photo couldn’t capture the space, but I am glad how spacious it is since we can move around corners and not sleep like sardines.
We are actually near the San Remigio Evacuation Camp, where I used to facilitate with MERCY Malaysia for their psychosocial activities. This place also serves as a destination for all relief goods coming from different regions across the country, so every day imagine how many trucks we always see lined up along this narrow road carrying plenty of goods for the earthquake survivors. Some famous personalities from showbiz and politics have visited here, and I sighted a few of them around the area, especially the president.
We are also near the rescue team and the DSWD Free Meals tent, which gives us an additional sense of safety. Just zoom in the photos. For the free meals, sometimes they would give food to the outsiders, but most of the time they prioritize the people in the camp. Whenever they give free food for the outsiders, we don’t line up because we have plenty of goods already. We have a good ground in front of our tent where we play with my niece and siblings.
This is us at around 5:00 P.M. today, strolling around the peaceful area of the camp and playing with our kids.
Beside us is a mini playground of the kids from the camp. They come in this area to play but the kids did not come again after an incident where one of the kids had blood all over his face because a stone hit on his face.
It was actually nearing dark by the time I took these photos, so we decided to go home to the house—not the tent—for a quick dinner, and then proceed to our tent to have our night conversation and rest there.
This is the distance between our new house and the makeshift tents we built. It is only a few steps away, so we can go from there to here and vice versa without getting tired.
That is all for today’s blog. Thank you for reading. See you soonest in my next narratives!