Message Magazine Online - Vol. 53, No. 03, Winter 2005

Other Online Features

• Four Dads and Four Daughters
  Cheryl Fawcett
• Ten Days of Casave
  Andrew Large, Nicaragua
• Something Unusual in France
  Frank and Marlea Pfeifer
• MKs Help in Outreach to Small Town Portugal
  Miriam Tyers, Portugal
• What is Language School Like?
  By a missionary in South Asia
• Dreaming Big: Church Ministries Institute Partners with Horizon International Schools
  John Taylor
• Nenagh-Gateway to Lough Derg
  Matt Tuttlebee, Baptist Missions Ireland
• Orthopedic Specialists Visit Togo
  Russ and Melody Ebersole
• History Week at the Greater Lisbon Christian Academy
  Mary Kay Smith
• Leader to Leader: Remembering Dr. Kempton
  William Amstutz
• Reaching Couples in Urban Spain
  Cindy Brown
• Phoebe Meets Jesus at English Camp
  Maylin Hartwick

Leyte Landslide Brings Tragedy and Opportunity

By Jim and Allene Latzko, Philippines

February 22, 2006

In the words of the three survivors

“My three friends and I were working on our abaca crop [fiber-producing plants] on the hill above our village of Guinsaugon. We felt the earth move, then heard a terrible noise, as the land in front of our feet gave way. We ran like insane men to get away from the landslide. When we looked back, our entire village was covered. Our knees shook with terror, as we realized our families were buried there.”

“I was working on my rice field outside our village of Guinsaugon, when I felt the earth tremble. I looked up and saw the landslide coming towards me, and I ran to get out of the way. My wife and one of my children were there at home, and were buried. I still have one child left. Right now, I am staying here in the Protestant church. Maybe I will move to Manila to stay with one of my brothers who lives there.”

“I help load and unload trucks filled with copra [coconut meat]. I was helping to deliver a load to Cabalian, a town near St. Bernard, when the landslide happened. When I returned to my town, I found that my wife and my four children died in the landslide. I am staying here in the high school right now, but I have no family. I feel like a lost puppy with no place to go.”

Helicopters, Helicopters

Ever since the landslide happened on February 17, Allene and I have heard helicopters pass over our house on their way to land at the nearby Tacloban airport. The only way to get to the landslide area in St. Bernard, Leyte by air is to fly into Tacloban then take a helicopter. Philippine military, Philippine government officials, and US soldiers have been coming and going. Some have been rescue teams, some have been evaluating the situation for the government, others have been ferrying relief supplies.

With every helicopter that passed by, I gained a growing conviction that I, too, should travel to St. Bernard to assess what Filipino believers could do to assist the survivors. Not having a helicopter, I drove our van three hours south on Monday, January 19 to Leyte Baptist Hospital in Hilongos, where I picked up a team of nine hospital staff led by Wilma Libatan. We drove three more hours to reach St. Bernard. In the last few miles of our trip, we crossed five landslide areas and had to drive carefully over the areas newly filled with dirt. Descending from the mountains came more helicopters: the US Marines.

We drove by the rice fields of St. Bernard and looked towards the mist-shrouded hills above Guinsaugon village. A patch of brown marked the spot of the devastating landslide. As we came to the crossroads, we had to make a decision: Do we turn left to try to get a glimpse of the landslide area, or turn right to help minister to the survivors in town? We turned right.

Helicopters were landing on a grass-covered area in front of the St. Bernard elementary school. As I watched, one of them unloaded US Marines. One Marine carried a large instrument case which was probably equipment needed to locate survivors. In only a few minutes, the helicopter lifted off again, and the soldiers prepared to take part in rescue operations. For a touching eyewitness account, read “Rescue Workers Dig in Risky Landscape” from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Survivors Housed in Churches and Schools

We parked outside the United Protestant Church in St. Bernard and went in to talk with Pastor Gulles. He is responsible for caring for about 200 people, some of them victims of the landslide, others evacuees from nearby villages. He gratefully accepted the canned food brought by our Leyte Baptist Hospital staff. I went to talk with some of the people gathered in the church, to hear some of their stories, and do what I could to point them to the One who holds their families in His hands.

The hospital staff visited the Department of Health, and set up an appointment to return and provide medical care. I visited the local high school, where most of the survivors of the landslide are housed. Members of the Philippine Department of Social Welfare were distributing relief supplies and gathering stories. Mercy Patya, a pastor’s wife who works for the welfare department, was trying to help them spiritually. She was very glad to hear that there were pastors coming to counsel and distribute Bibles.

Filipino Pastors Demonstrate Concern

On Tuesday, January 20, Pastor Silvano Iligan and Pastor Ronie Edralin rode into St. Bernard on Pastor Edralin’s motorcycle. Pastor Iligan plans to begin a church in St. Bernard within a few months, and I talked with them by cell phone to find out what had been accomplished.

The two pastors had talked with four men in their 60s and 70s who were staying in the high school. One of the men, Danilo Sumili, was helping his son work on the farm when they saw the mountain sliding down on them. They started to run furiously. The son was hit on the head by a rock but survived. However, many of Danilo’s children and grandchildren died in the landslide. Pastor Iligan was encouraged to see that these older men, all of whom had lost family, had a consciousness of God and knew that even this situation was under His control.

The pastors also met a group of high school students who were attending classes in town when the landslide descended upon their village. Not only did they lose their parents and younger siblings, but many of their aunts and uncles as well.

Who Will Be My Family?

This is the question that comes to the minds of many of the landslide survivors. The village of Guinsaugon is gone. Fathers have no family to return to. High school students are alone. Who will dry their tears or help them and give them hope?

Pastor Iligan, supported by his sending church in Maasin, Leyte, has a plan. Even before the landslide, he planned to start a church and a community center in the town of St. Bernard. This center will be a place where—

• High school students can gather after school and learn there are still people to love them
• Men can have profitable activities, rather than drinking
• All would hear how God loves them
• All would learn how to become a member of God’s forever-family

Pastor Iligan’s salary is supplied by his home church. However, there will be a number of expenses for him as he seeks to rent and furnish a building for this community center, which will also serve as an initial meeting place for his new church in St. Bernard. Please pray for God’s provision and the development of this new ministry. And of course, pray that God’s love will be evident to those who lost loved ones in this tragic landslide.

You can help these victims of disaster by giving to the Asia Pacific compassion account (0717181). Funds received will benefit the St. Bernard Community Center, and should gifts exceed the immediate need, funds will help other ministries that show the compassion of Christ during crisis in the Asia Pacific region.