3 days after evacuating to the nearest school, 80-year-old Juanito and 68-year-old Susana came home to their house that was devastated by the flash floods in San Mateo, Rizal, brought by the recent monsoon. 

Juanito and Susana show the remains of their house after the flashfloods. Their house was built near the San Mateo river.

“The water rose up so fast that even before we left our house, the flood water is already up to our knees. So even with our weak knees, we tried to walk as fast as we can through the floods,” shared Susana. They were not able to save anything but themselves. 

The old couple stayed with other families inside one of the classrooms in Justice Vicente Santiago Elementary School where Operation Blessing Philippines (OB) visited and distributed food packs to almost 300 families, which will sustain them for several days. 

Even at her old age, Susana works as a cleaner in the Municipality of San Mateo, Rizal Cash for Work. Juanito gets his pension every 2 months. Their children who already have their own families shares food with them from time to time.   They are now dependent on the meals being provided by the Local Government Unit (LGU). 

They are hopeful that they would be able to rebuild their home.  

Operation Blessing church partners also helped in ministering to the affected families through crisis counseling – a psychosocial activity that helps the survivors move forward from the trauma, hopelessness, and anxieties that they faced because of the calamity. 

Juanito and Susana temporarily live in the old barangay with other families whose houses were also devastated. They needed to work double time to build their houses and seek comfort as we are still expecting other typhoons coming to our country. 

You can be a blessing! Click here to know how you can send help to families like Juanito and Susana: BECOME AN OPERATION BLESSING PARTNER TODAY