Girl trapped in rubble of Leyte house airlifted to Cebu

There was tension in the air when a convoy of three cars snaked into the tarmac of the Mactan Cebu International Airport early yesterday morning.

A Caucasian man wearing a khaki vest and a blue cap directed the cars to form a line in front of hangar 9 of the MCIA’s general aviation area as a C-130 cargo plane from one of the countries participating in the multinational effort to help areas devastated by supertyphoon Yolanda roared in the background.

Seconds later, a black helicopter appeared and landed a few meters from where the lead car – a silver-gray Toyota Innova – was positioned. The man in khaki together with two of his colleagues dashed into the helicopter as it opened its doors.

Businessman Philip Romualdez, a trustee of the Dona Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation, jumped out of the chopper and gave the lowdown on the need for all possible haste.

HANDLE WITH CARE. Medics from the International Medical Corps carefully bring out Rizza Flores of a helicopter that brought her to Cebu 16 days after a wooden beam fell on her and crushed her right leg when Yolanda hit Leyte on Nov. 8. (Junjie Mendoza)

“This 11-year-old girl has been in pain for more than two weeks now after she was pinned down and was trapped for six hours when their house collapsed (at the height of supertyphoon Yolanda). We had to fly her out and bring her to a hospital as soon as possible,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Medics from the International Medical Corps (IMC), one of the international humanitarian groups providing relief assistance to storm-hit areas in Cebu and Eastern Visayas, moved the stretcher-bound girl from the chopper to the waiting van in less than five minutes and the convoy sped off to Cebu City’s Chong Hua Hospital.

“Please tell the doctors to do their best. I guarantee to cover the bill,” Romualdez told medics before turning to the girl’s grandmother and said, “Wala po kayong alalahanin. We will take care of you. Kami ang bahala sa inyo.”

Getting medical help would be the best birthday present for Rizza, who turns 12 on Nov. 27, said Romualdez. Romualdez is the husband of Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez, president of the Inquirer Publications Inc. which publishes Cebu Daily News.

The 11-year-old girl, Rizza Flores, has been in pain for 16 days due to multiple fractures she suffered when her house in Burauen, Leyte collapsed at the height of supertyphoon Yolanda on Nov. 8. She had to be carried in a hammock from her mountain home to the Burauen District Hospital where they were advised to take Rizza to the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban, which is 43 kilometers away from the remote town.

IMC volunteers who took the girl under their care contacted the foundation to have her airlifted to Cebu City early yesterday morning.

Flores suffered a major fracture in her femur or thigh bone, aside from other parts of her right leg.

The grade 4 pupil had to endure the pain for two weeks at an evacuation center in Burauen. There was no place where she could be treated, said Agnes Quimson, a relative who had been attending to the girl. Quimson is also the barangay captain of the community where Rizza’s family lives.

Rizza’s mother had her hands full taking care of her five other children in an evacuation center in barangay Villa Patria. Rizza is the second eldest child.

Until yesterday, Rizza was continuously crying. She was only given pain relievers as hospitals in Leyte were not equipped to handle the orthopedic surgery she needed, said Robert Petracca, one of the IMC volunteers.

For two weeks since Yolanda struck, the family relied on a “hilot” or local healer and had no idea how badly injured the girl was.

“Hilot lang po talaga. Pinaiinom din siya ng Amoxicillin para mawala yung sakit,” Quimson told Cebu Daily News.

Roads were also impassable in the days after the storm, prompting aid workers to airdrop relief goods to their place.

“Binabato na lang ng helicopter yung mga relief,” Quimson said.

Being the village chief, Quimson drafted four men to carry the girl on a hammock and take her to the EVRMC in Tacloban City. It took them five hours to reach the hospital.

Rizza was taken to another hospital for an X-ray scan. It was then that the doctors confirmed the gravity of the girl’s condition.

Doctors at the EVRMC also told the IMC it could not give Rizza the treatment she needed.

With nowhere else to turn to, the IMC went to the Remedios T. Romualdez Medical Foundation that facilitated the airlifting of Rizza to Cebu and her subsequent admission to Chong Hua Hospital.

At the emergency room, IMC volunteer Ian Yocum reassured Quimson that they will take care of Rizza.

“You are part of our family now. We will check on her from time to time,” he said before the IMC volunteers left.

She was given Advil tablets for the pain and dozed off awhile. When she woke up, she cried again, asking for pain medication.

With no immediate kin in the city, Cebu Daily News staffers took turns attending to the needs of Rizza and her grand-aunt.

Rizza is expected to undergo surgery on Tuesday.