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Philippine landslide leaves behind village of widowers+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)GUINSAUGON, the Philippines, Feb. 22_(Kyodo) _ A massive landslide that swallowed an entire village on Leyte Island in the central Philippines last week has not only left behind a village of despair and isolation but also a village of widowers as well. Many men have found themselves thrown into the situation in which they have to take care of their children who have survived the catastrophe, a role-reversal for a village with traditional Philippine values in which men are expected to go out and earn income for their families and women to take care of things at home. Most of more than 1,000 people, who were buried alive and are feared dead in last Friday's landslide in Guinsaugon, a village in St. Bernard town on Leyte, are women, possibly because so many were at home tending children and less physically able to escape the raging mud and boulders. While disaster officials have not ascertained how many widowers are in the tally of around 500 survivors, they estimate the number of women killed was three times more than that of men. About 80 women had been at the village hall celebrating the anniversary of their organization when the mud buried them alive before noon. All but one of 16 landslide survivors invited Wednesday to talk about their plight with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who visited the village, are married men. Their wives are missing and they are now cringing at the thought of having to act as the sole parent for their children. "My wife is not around to do our laundry anymore," said Benito Berdijo, 53. He said his wife Carmelita, 52, attended last week's anniversary celebration in the village. Berdijo said tending their three children, all teenagers, is a new task for him. But he said he will bear the responsibilities left by his wife, like cooking and washing clothes. A 40-year-old farmer who lost his wife and 9-year-old daughter said raising a family alone is a "tough job." "I now live alone, cook alone, wash alone, sleep alone. I cannot imagine life without my wife," Alberto Medilo said. "It seems like I lost half of my strength with her loss." The massive landslide has not only left the village barren but also empty spaces in the people's social life that may take a long time to fill. Many families, neighborhoods, and social networks have been torn apart by the landslide. Maria Lim, mayor of the town, said she is not only looking at the swaths of death or property destroyed by the landslide but also at the big loss of human resources like teachers, public servants and skilled workers in the farming village. No effort has been made so far to begin rebuilding the village, with Southern Leyte Gov. Rosette Lerias saying it is not yet time to talk about reconstruction efforts there. Arroyo pledged to pour in more funds and launch livelihood projects to help the survivors and ordered an aerial survey of the mountains in Leyte to alert other villages to possible landslides. Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Ryuichiro Yamazaki also visited the site Wednesday and offered 25 million yen worth of assistance while former first lady Imelda Marcos, who grew up in Leyte, also consoled the survivors. Skies cleared Wednesday after days of occasional torrential rains, giving relief to hundreds of Philippine soldiers, U.S. Marines and a small international contingent backed by a thousand volunteers painstakingly digging through the debris. As of Wednesday afternoon, rescue workers had pulled 120 bodies from heavy mud and debris. The giant wall of mud and boulders, as many survivors described the tragedy, obliterated more than 300 houses, covering the entire village with 30-meter-deep muck. A miner who is helping the rescue efforts lamented that chances of finding survivors are "almost nil." |