DNCA in Kasiglahan Village, Montalban, Rizal (August 15, 2012)

Ironically named "Kasiglahan" Village, which in Filipino literally means active or full of energy, thousands of people living in this community could not find the energy to pick up where they left off.

Most of the families living in Kasiglahan Village, Montalban, Rizal are relocatees from Malabon, Navotas, Isla Puting Bato in Tondo, NIA Road, and Damayang Lagi in Quezon City.  They are families whose homes were demolished by the city government to make way for so-called "development projects" or were living in city-identified "danger zones."

What appeared to be the answer for their lifelong clamor for public housing turned out to be another disaster.  Relocatees from Isla Puting Bato tearfully shared that "matapos nilang sunugin ang bahay namin sa Isla, basta na lang nila kami pinabayaan dito," (after burning down our homes in Isla, they [government] abandoned us here.)

Hundreds of homes burned to ashes in Isla Puting Bato in May this year.  Hundreds still remain in an evacuation center in Del Pan, Manila while those who opted for relocation in Montalban suffered another tragedy.

SOS volunteers who conducted the Disaster Needs and Capacities Assessment (DNCA) on August 15 reported that some one thousand families (1,000) were directly affected by the flood.

Due to lack of a comprehensive housing plan and disaster preparedness, the lives of thousands of families in Kasiglahan Village have become more at risk than ever.

(Pictures courtesy of SOS DNCA volunteers)

Like a ghost town

Homes were ravaged by the flood from nearby Wawa Dam

Makeshift doors, which were recently placed by relocatees from Isla Puting Bato became as useless as the mud that covered the community

At the height of the southwest monsoon's fury, these houses were submerged to the roof and families were stranded in their rooftops for days without food or water

SOS volunteers conducted DNCA

Volunteers said that the houses were literally built beside the raging Wawa river