‘We lost everything’

Around 11pm on Sunday night, as the strong winds of Typhoon Soudelor was peeling away the roof of their home. Bernie Rahman and her four children took cover under their sink. Wet and shivering with terror, the family could do nothing but wait for the winds to die down.

Some 9 miles away in San Roque, Nestor Basallo was clinging to the door of his house to protect himself, his wife, and their son after their roof got blown off. When the winds stopped howling, they ran for their lives to the Aqua Resort Club across the street where they sought refuge.

These two families are among more than 300 who reported major damage to their homes after Typhoon Soudelor laid waste to Saipan last Sunday, Aug. 3.

By daybreak, when they returned to check on their houses, they had no homes to check up on. The houses that took them years to build were now gone. They described what happened to them as “losing everything.”

Rahman, in an interview with Saipan Tribune at the San Vicente Elementary School shelter, asked: “Where were the first responders when I dialed 911 to save my family?”

“We tried to call 911 and they told me that they would send help. …We were there for 10 minutes with my kids under the kitchen sink…I ran to my neighbors and asked for help and they did [help us], but we didn’t go to the shelter until after the storm,” she said.

“My own family helped and without my neighbors…I don’t know, I risked my life because I was thinking about my kids…they weren’t there and I don’t know why 911 was busy,” she added.

She and her four kids went to the shelter the following day, Aug. 3, with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

“Where is the assistance? I am glad that they are providing food and the shelter but what happens next? No one has come yet to speak to us. The least they can do is give us something so that I can at least purchase clothing and materials for me and my kids,” she said.

Basallo and his wife, Nomielada, and their son, Glenn Mark, spoke about their harrowing experience and even showed a video they took of what happened during the storm.

Hearing the horrifying screams of his 13-year-old son crying for his mom, Basallo knew exactly what to do when the first winds of Soudelor ravaged their roof: “We ran for our lives.”

In the video, Basallo is seen calling his wife and son, shouting at them to make a run for it. A roofing tin was blocking the door. Basallo moved the tin and they made a run for it to Aqua Resort Club.

“If it wasn’t for the door and the helmets that we were wearing, I am not even sure if we would live to see tomorrow,” Basallo said.

Glenn Mark said that he was shocked and horrified and had never experienced anything so scary in his life and was proud that his dad risked his life to save all of them. They are now at the Tanapag Middle School shelter.

“We lost everything…we have nowhere to stay,” Basallo said. While they do have their important documents, his son’s passport is gone and a lot of their electronics, household items, and everything else are now wet.

Before the storm hit, Mangarero Enrique had already sought shelter with his family at San Vicente Elementary School. However, his son and daughter-in-law stayed back.

Mangarero said that during the typhoon, his son and daughter-in-law had to run to their bathroom to hide as the roof blew off; luckily they survived.

“Everything is gone now…The next day, as I made my way to the house, my son called me and said ‘Dad the house is gone’…I pulled out to the driveway and just stared. I had a headache. I was thinking at what I am going to do now,” Mangarero said.

Mangarero said that he lost all their clothes, the bed and furniture are damaged, electronics are gone, and majority of other household items are wet. He hopes that his nephew, who has a spare home, would lend it to him for a couple of months.