It is the most compelling, the most copied and probably the most viewed typhoon Ondoy video in the net. It had spawned copious versions some carrying prayers and surreal music background. It was played a number of times in local TV and was picked up by foreign networks.
The video is a testament to man's nothingness in the face of nature's might and fury. It showed a group of what could be kids swept by the swift and angry currents of the river towards the underside of a bridge at the height of typhoon Ondoy. When the video panned downriver, only a single person made it to the other side of the bridge. The river was so swollen that the bridge became so low for people and debris to pass under it.
Initially, I was unperturbed by the Ondoy floods. It was not the first time that Metro Manila was flooded, right? Saturday evening, the TV news showed houses submerged up to the roofs, cars hoisted by the water atop trees, families huddled on rooftops, and government agencies tallying the affected and the dead. Having experienced the flood brought by typhoon Frank in Iloilo last July 2008, I thought that the scenes were just a rehash. ‘Been there. Done that.’, I shrugged.
However, the following morning, the TV stations kept on airing the devastation brought by Ondoy and the cries for help of the victims. Being a father myself, I especially commiserated with a father, an executive type, who was in tears and choking, asking those who have seen or known the whereabouts of his daughter to please call the evacuation centers. The father could be a growling tiger in the boardroom, but the thought of his daughter possibly suffering somewhere away from his consoling presence, ang tigre ay naging basang sisiw. Para sa akin na isang tatay, matinding parusa sa isang ama ang isiping ang kanyang anak ay nagdudusa at nangangailangan ng kanyang tulong, pero wala siyang magagawa.
Then I saw that Ondoy video. And I thought, ‘Tama na. Sobra na. The people had suffered so much already.’
I remembered the Saturday night of typhoon Frank in Iloilo. I kept vigil until midnight to watch if the water would reach the second floor of our house. Sensing that the water was receding, I went to bed tired, hungry, and disbelieving of all the helplessness I saw in our never-before-flooded neighborhood. I opened my battery-operated pocket transistor (there was no electricity) for updates. As I drifted in and out of sleep, I heard the news that a passenger ferry had sank when it got caught in the eye of typhoon Frank. The radio announcer sounded tired and he lulled me to sleep with the names of the survivors. I was too sleepy to react. But before I was drowned in deep slumber I uttered, ‘Tama na. Sobra na. The people had suffered so much already.’
The Ondoy video could have touched the hearts and minds of so many that a TV network made a follow-up story. It showed two dead bodies fished out along with some debris from under the bridge.
But where were the other victims? Who were they? How about the person who survived?
The following Tuesday, I saw again the video on TV followed by an interview of the single survivor. His name was Erik. He was a young man, still visibly stunned by the experience he went through. He said he was with some people, and his wife and his two daughters. They were swept by the current from a sitio in Quezon City, kilometers away from the bridge. With blood-shot eyes and a straight face, he said he was still looking for his wife and kids. ‘Huwag mong sisihin ang sarili mo,’ people consoled him.
Many said that the Ondoy onslaught was an act of God. Many also countered, that the devastation was an act of man. As early as the 70’s urban planners had already warned that the eastern part of Manila was prone to high floods and they forwarded solutions. Unabated clearing operations of the upland areas also contributed to the floods.
Unlike the people who consoled Erik, dapat ba natin sisihin ang sarili natin? With another typhoon scheduled this week, and more to come this year, are we in for another compelling video?
@
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Most compelling typhoon Ondoy video
Monday, September 28, 2009
Donations for typhoon Ondoy victims flood in
International and local donations poured in as tropical storm Ondoy (with international code name Ketsana) left the Philippines leaving behind at least 140 people dead, scores missing, hundreds of thousands of families affected, an estimated half a billion pesos worth of crops destroyed, hundreds of millions of pesos worth of properties damaged, and thousands of video and text postings in cyberspace.
US Ambassador Kristie Kenney authorized an additional $50,000 in immediate disaster relief assistance through the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), bringing the total in immediate relief donation assistance of the US to $100,000, said Rebecca Thompson of the public affairs office of the US embassy in Manila.
China, through Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao, also donated $10,000 (about half a million pesos) for the victims of typhoon Ondoy. The donation is coursed through the Philippine National Red Cross.
Hollywood celebrities also got involved to raise funds for the victims of typhoon Ondoy.
Meanwhile in the Philippines, millions of pesos in cash and in kind were given or pledged by good Samaritans through the fund drives of TV networks ABS-CBN and GMA, and through government and NGO drop-off points.
However, the nation is waiting with bated breaths how much money Congressmen Danilo Suarez of Quezon 3rd District and Martin Romualdez of Leyte province will unload to alleviate the sufferings of their fellow Filipinos.
It must be recalled that Romualdez reportedly paid the $20,000 bill for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's dinner in the upscale Le Cirque restaurant in New York. Ms. Arroyo was accompanied by 40 other people, mostly Congressmen. On the other hand, Suarez was said to foot the $15,000 bill of Ms Arroyo's meal in Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Washington. She was accompanied by the same entourage in New York. Ms Arroyo and party were in the US on a working visit upon the invitation of US President Barack Obama.
People keep wondering that China, a would-be superpower country, can give only $10,000, while a Philippine congressman can splurge double the amount in a single dinner. Therefore, people hope that Romualdez, Suarez, et.al., would be as generous to those who really need their mullah.
BTW, with all the braggings of Gloria Arroyo especially in her July 2009 SONA (which many thought was the bitchest SONA ever), many are wondering why imperial Metro Manila was not prepared during the Ondoy onslaught. More than a year ago in July 2008, Panay island was devastated by typhoon Frank and its subsequent flood never before seen in the island's history. Didn't the Arroyo administration think that the same situation would happen in Metro Manila, or in any other place in the Philippines for that matter? Last weekend, people just realized that rubber boats and rescue helicopters were direly needed. And didn't Gloria Arroyo think she needed a presidential jet sometime ago?@
Saturday, September 26, 2009
FLOOD!
No. There is no flood in Iloilo. Though it rains intermittently and the sky remains dark. Tigum River in Cabatuan is rampaging but the water level is not alarming. But flood-prone residents of Jaro are in panic mode as they await for warning calls.
But typhoon Ondoy has flooded Metro Manila and most of Luzon, the gravity of which is higher than the floods brought to Iloilo and Panay by typhoon Frank last year.
Of course Manila is flood-prone. But the floods today are cataclysmic. The basement area of Megamall in Ortigas is flooded and houses along the university belt are submerged up to their second floors if not their roofs. Parts of EDSA and Buendia are neck-deep.100% of Cainta is underwater as their mayor aired for help as late as 10:38pm as residents in many subdivisions are spending the night atop their rooftops.
Even with so many people affected and crying for help over the radio and TV (as I write this entry, 9 are already confirmed dead), many are thankful that this incident occurs on a weekend when schools and most offices are closed. And the floods started early in the morning when residents are still in their homes and therefore are not stranded somewhere away from their families.
It was also the same situation in Iloilo when typhoon Frank flooded most of Panay on a Saturday when schools were closed and during daytime when people could easily see and think of what to do.
But many are asking: Why these floods? Panay was flooded as we know. A few months back, portions of Mindanao were flooded for weeks. And now, the floods are in Luzon.@
Provinces Under State of Calamity: Marinduque, Camarines Norte , Bataan and Metro Manila were already placed on state of calamity. Aurora, Quirino, Nueva Viscaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Quezon, Isabela, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Benguet, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, Bataan and Metro Manila.
Disaster Emergency Hotlines: 911-1873, 912-5296, 912-2665 Quezon City Rescue: 161 Meralco: 09175592824, 09209292824 Philippine National Red Cross: 09209527268, 5270000 National Disaster Coordinating Council: 912-5668. 9111406, 9122665, 9115061 ABS-CBN: 4163641
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