Cagayan de Oro | Aftermath of Tropical Storm Vinta

On December 22, a few days before Christmas, massive flooding hit the city of Cagayan de Oro as Tropical Storm "Vinta" (with International name Tembin) ravaged the whole of Mindanao in the Philippines.

One of the residents compared it to Tropical Storm Sendong which made a landfall in their city six years ago. Out of more than 1200 casualties, almost 900 were from Cagayan de Oro. This left a harrowing mark on the city but also an important lesson which has now helped the city in achieving a zero casualty for Vinta. As early as December 21, voluntary evacuations were already underway and efforts were not in vain. Many lives were saved by the precautionary move made by the government and residents as the Cagayan River reached it's highest level at 9.48 meters by 11 am the next day.

Today, 4 days after, the Kagay-anons are slowly recovering. The city rounded up volunteers to form what they call their "Mud Brigade". These individuals from government agencies, clubs, and organizations are conducting debris and mud clearing operations in the areas of Cagayan de Oro which were severely affected by the storm. Their woes are far from over though. As of yesterday, Sunstar reported that more than 97,000 people remain in 261 evacuation centers across Mindanao, while nearly 85,000 more are displaced and staying elsewhere.

Our fellow Steemian, @adevaesparrago from Cagayan de Oro, posted a call to aid her fellow Kagay-anons who were much affected by the storm. That post received a lot of support and her group was able to give the evacuees in Macasandig evacuation center a Christmas dinner along with some much-needed toiletries. But they will not stop there and would like to reach more families in other evacuation centers.

SteemPH is exerting efforts in getting more funds to further the help extended to these families. They have pledged to donate 30000php to the victims. You can send your help too by donating Steem or SBD. You may contact them directly by leaving a comment on their post or you can contact them through the Discord Philippine Channel (link below). All rewards from this post will be forwarded to SteemPH.

If you are a Filipino, an expat living in the Philippines, or care about the Philippines, please join our growing community in discord by clicking on this picture:

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