MACO, Davao de Oro (MindaNews / 2 July)—One of the leaders of the evacuees from the mining village of Masara who lived at the G-Works Kampo Uno tent city here could have died of the heat during one of the hottest summers in the country, MindaNews learned belatedly during a site visit on Monday.
The Campo Uno tent city for Masara landslide survivors. MindaNews file photo by MANMAN DEJETO
Rose Herda, one of the residents in the tent city located near the Immaculate Conception Quasi-Parish in Barangay Elizalde, still remembers the “shocking” night of May 5.
She recalled that during chitchat with neighbors outside their tents around 8 p.m., they noticed that there was no sign of life inside the tent of Milagros Magno, then secretary of the organization of evacuees at Kampo Uno. They wondered why Magno had not come out yet from her tent that day.
Magno’s Tent 45 was next to Herda’s, just two meters away. They rushed to the tent, and found Magno’s lifeless body sprawling on the ground.
“We took her to the hospital immediately,” Herda told MindaNews in the vernacular. “The doctor told us that she had been dead for six hours,” she added.
That must have been mid-afternoon, the hottest time of the day. “Before that night, it was really hot and humid during the afternoon,” Herda said.
According to The Weather Channel (weather.com), temperature in Maco on May 5 peaked at 35 degrees Celsius between 3 and 4 p.m.
During the long drought of the summer months, the PAGASA weather bureau had repeatedly warned of the heat, advising Filipinos to stay hydrated and avoid staying outdoors and in hot environments to avoid heat cramps, heat stroke, and dehydration.
Magno, a widow in her 60s, was living alone in her tent made of tarpaulin, directly exposed to the scorching sun.
SunStar Davao, quoting Vice Governor Jayvee Tyron Uy, reported on June 10 that someone died in the tent city because of the heat but did not name the victim.
Herda said it could have been a combination of the heat and Magno’s heart problems.
MindaNews reported last March about the heat the evacuees from Masara had to endure in the tent city, especially during noon and afternoon.
Eduardo L. Año, vice president of the Campo Uno evacuees, said at that time they have been enduring the heat due to the dry spell. “We just have to bear the heat until we are relocated,” he told MindaNews in the vernacular.
Maco Mayor Arthur Carlos Voltaire Rimando said that the Campo Uno evacuees will be relocated to a permanent site in Barangay Panibasan, a 10-minute ride away, within the year.
Campo Uno hosts evacuees who used to reside at Zones 1 and 2 in Barangay Masara, not far from the Ground Zero of the landslide last February that killed almost a hundred people.
Herda, who has replaced Magno as secretary of the community, said 74 out of the original 86 families are currently on-site.
The rest have moved elsewhere, some rented houses, the others staying with relatives, according to camp manager Jaymar Suday, who is with the Municipal Social Work and Development Office. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)