Every time it rains one after another, residents of Brgy. Kantagnos are always worried about the possible flooding in their village. Residents always remain vigilant during these times and promptly go to higher ground for their safety. Little did they know, another tragedy was about to happen. They don’t have it in mind that the mountain in their place would cave in. On the night of April 10th, 2022, a landslide smashed the tranquility of Barangay Kantagnos in Baybay City, Leyte, sweeping away several properties and burying more than 170 individuals under tons of thick mud and stones. In the days that followed, many are still missing.

Barangay Kantagnos is a marginalized community, in many senses of the word. Residents relied mainly on agriculture to survive which indicates a high incidence of poverty. When the landslide occurred, nothing could diminish the impact of the devastation.

On a hot afternoon, as we sat down on an old monobloc chair to talk, through masks and a meter apart, Michelle’s tears welled up as she told her story. Michelle is the barangay chairwoman of Kantagnos, a farming village with more than 600 residents, 15 kilometers away from the city proper of Baybay City Leyte. Michelle vividly recalls the night it happened. At the time of the dreadful event, she was out monitoring the situation in her village. Suddenly, she heard a loud explosion and powerful tremors knocked over masses of earth from the mountains above. She heard screams and then a deafening silence. In an instant, the whole village seemed to disappear like a bubble. The landslide wiped out all properties in its path and buried hundreds of people alive.

“I was blinded by the dust; I witnessed the soil erosion running its course around me. I could barely breathe.”

Most of the people who died were barely aware of the ongoing tragedy. Some were peacefully resting in their homes as this happened at night. When this happened, Michelle was so desperate, thinking her children might die already. Even though everything seems to be out of control, Michelle screamed for help as she was determined to survive. But Michelle was more determined to find her children and husband. She screamed incessantly and physically struggled with mud, fortunately; she heard her children and husband respond one by one, and by God’s grace they were alive.

Months have passed, but Michelle is still struggling to come to terms with what happened. She still mourns the loss of his relatives, friends, and children who died in the landslide. As we talked, the chairwoman could not begin to describe the agony and desperation, but you can feel the regret and guilt prevails. As the chairwoman, it pains her to witness the suffering of her constituents and she can do nothing but mourn with them.

“I couldn’t believe that in just a snap of a finger, the whole village was gone and buried. The landslide orphaned many children and many are grieving for their lost loved ones.”

The tragedy resulted in the permanent displacement of all residents of the barangay. Like many, Michelle lost everything and saved nothing but themselves. Along with that loss, the landslide also erodes her dreams for her family and her village. Many families were forced to start their life from scratch without a solid foundation to hold on to.

Michelle together with her constituents is living temporarily in the evacuation center and still waiting for their relocation. With no other source of income, most of them depend only on the food ration provided in the evacuation center. In the interim, according to Michelle, many children in their village were not attending school because most of the families could not afford it.

To help Michelle’s community in these extraordinary times, CDRC together with Leyte Center for Development Inc. (LCDE) implemented an emergency response project to provide immediate support to at least more than 600 families of Brgy. Kantagnos and Brgy. Mailhi. Under this project, beneficiaries received basic food necessities and other basic core relief items such as sleeping kits and cooking wares. Not only that, various psychosocial activities have been launched to alleviate the distress of the affected communities. This good deed was possible through the initiative provided by Mercy Relief.

For the people of Kantagnos, the memory of this tragedy still stings. This is an event that will not be easily forgotten. But, still, Michelle remains hopeful and believes that there is a reason why they were able to survive the landslide no matter how insurmountable it may seem.