Alma Junasan, 42, slept outside again last night at Pier 1 in Cebu City, waiting for the storm to lift so her family can go home to Bohol.
To make it more comfortable for her one-month-old daughter and two infant nieces, she improvised a hammock.
“Naghimo nalang mi’g duyan para sab intawon makatulog ni among mga bata diri,” she said. (We made a hammock so the children could at least sleep.)
She, her husband and three children with other relatives are among thousands of stranded passengers waiting to continue their sea travel after the Coast Guard canceled ship voyages due to typhoon Seniang.
Last night they slept on cardboard sheets spread on the ground.
The clan’s 13 adults and 15 children spent the first night sleeping under a waiting shed outside Pier 1.
They arrived in Cebu on December 24 to spend Christmas and a family reunion in Sogod town, northern Cebu .They were on their way back to Tubigon, Bohol province to spend New Year’s Eve when plans went awry.
When they arrived at Pier 1, they were shocked to learn that the Coast Guard had canceled all sea trips.
For meals, they shared canned goods earlier provided by a cousin in Sogod.
A nephew who is an On-the- Job-trainee as a Criminology student in one of the universities in Cebu City has a boarding house near the pier. He brings them cooked food.
For drinking water, they go to a faucet inside Plaza Independencia.
The food isn’t enough for all, admits her sister-in-law Rosie Montebon, 43, but it will have to do.
“Kuwang ra gyod para namo pero amo lang giantos kay giuna man namo ang mga bata,” Montebon said. (This is inadequate for us but we just bear with the situation because we have to make sure the children are fed first.)
Despite the discomfort and disrupted travel plans, she said they still feel fortunate to be safe and together.
“Bahala na lang og naa mi diri nangatulog sa gawas, wala miy ligo, basta kompleto mi, “ said Junasan.
(Never mind if we have to sleep here outside, without being able to take a bath, as long as we are complete as a family.)