Emergency response takes on a human face.
 
When the unlikely earthquake of February 6 hit the eastern coast of Negros Oriental, with a Richter intensity of 6.9, it not only up-heaved rivers to race downstream with terrifying power, it also torqued the caked sediments 12 kilometers below the earth’s surface to cause major landslides burying whole towns. Bloke dos in Solonggon (municipality of La Libertad) was one such town.  Heavy earth and mud enveloped all the houses on its hillside and at its foot; 42 people were recorded lost, never to be found alive. Of these, six were school children who went home for lunch that day . . .  and never came back.


The landslide risk was all the more perilous because of rampant logging in some areas, leaving the mountains bare of any mountain cover. Earthquakes of Intensity 6 could easily trigger a major landslide, as happened in Bloke dos.


Just months before, a little 7 year old girl from Australia, visiting the Philippines with her mom and dad, was watching TV news clips of the ravages of Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. She could not understand how children could survive, having lost their homes, all their goods and especially their toys. Bronte is especially attached to Frank, the name she has given to her companion teddy bear. How could children go through this pain without being able to hug and squeeze their teddies?


Bronte took her cell phone to record a video of her appeal. She began speaking to her classmates in her home town in Australia, “Please send us your toys and plushies, even old ones that you don’ t want any more. The kids here need them.” The principal played her video in all the classes, and the whole school responded.
It was a simple appeal, it didn’t cost big money, just a few dollars to mail a package. It didn’t use big media, only a 2 minute video clip made with a her cell phone; Meg, her mom, transferred it to Youtube and it circulated all over the net. There were no big objectives or NGOs behind this, only Bronte and her wish for 1000 plushy toys. Within days, over 3,000 plushy toys flooded the lobby of Manila Mandarin Hotel. Communications Manager, Charisse Chiudian, creatively proposed, “Let’s put them under the love tree, we are preparing for Valentines.” By early March, we counted over 5,000 huggies of all sizes and shapes


LBC was very generous in sending several hundred boxes free to Cagayan and Iligan cities. LBC even sent some staff to the hotel to help wrap up the boxes.
Megs Worthy, Bronte’s mom, and her dad had a trip planned to Hongkong, but there were still 800 or more toys not yet distributed. Captain Joebert, Philippine Coast Guard and Commander of the Knights of Rizal Hunters Chapter for Emergency Response, suggested Guihulnan, where an earthquake had destroyed a sitio and very little aid has been coming forth. LBC arranged the shipment of these last 800 toys to Dumaguete and took them overland to Solonggon, a three hour drive up the coast.  Cebu Pacific graciously provided air transportation for the Solonggon Mission.  AFP gave  us a truck to take some of the passengers to the site. These were members of the 302^nd Brigade and 11^th Infantry, the first response team to bring relief to that site in February. The Asian Center for Science and Technology gave us a breakfast before starting off. Black Pencil and Hope WorldWide Philippines provided a van, plus another vehicle to transport a team of puppeteers.




 


 


On arrival in Solonggon, there was a stillness in the air, some tents stood in fields, some near to individual houses, even the school had six large tents where students held classes in fear of more after shocks. A shroud of sadness leaked down through the gentle afternoon rains. Parents, brothers and sisters, young children, still there,  under the landslide.
 


The Hope team staged a short puppet show to teach children’s rights and deftly used this medium to introduce the Solonggon mission team, and especially Bronte, whose idea it was to bring toys to the children. The toys were set out on a banig in an empty room, the children were invited to come in, seek their favorite color or animal and take one home to hug and care for.


Many, especially the younger ones were bashful and hesitant, but soon learned to stretch out a hand and reach for a favorite toy. The smiles on their faces said more than their bashful words could ever express. Bronte was at the door to greet each one.


It is still uncanny how one little girl could set this mission in motion, actually the second, as Bronte led a first mission to Cagayan de Oro in February. How did she get all these people to give so generously? How did she get the companies, organizations and NGOs to cooperate and pitch in with their resources. For once, I think, emergency and relief took on a human face, just a little blonde haired girl, who said “It isn’t right for children to lose their toys, and suffer these floods and earthquakes.”


Petite, even fragile, Bronte is a very ordinary girl, but with a child’s determination and an incontestable sense of righteousness, all embodied in the tiny face of an angel.

 

 

 

Munting Nayon News Magazine