Typhoon Yolanda

I can't even begin how to do my post on this very tragic news in the Philippines. Every time I watch news, my heart bleeds and aches and the worst part of it is I cannot do any little help. The only thing I can do is to cry my heart out and sympathize with what the victims of yolanda are going through right now. I didn't write this to discuss about the donations and help, nor the suffering of all those people. I keep on praying and bugging HIM eventhough Im aware how HE must be really busy right now hearing all those anguish, questions and painful plea for help. I will not stop bugging HIM. I will not stop crying until my eyes run dry. I want to do this not just for the people who need them, it's more for me as I know that I have so little ways of extending my help to them. Let me take this chance to ask for your help to say a silent prayer for those who doesn't have any ways of seeing a silver lining on this tragedy.

I know that many have questioned why this is happening to our country, to our world. Some might have asked God why He let this happen. I may be one of those people who got tons of questions in my head. We may not get the answers to all these but I know for sure that God will help us find the way to overcome these pain and struggles. Don't we always just look back at some of the painful memories in our past where some we just laugh it off or some we were still in awe on how we manage to get off that mess or some still brought us pain. May God shine His light upon the victims of yolanda. May the souls of those who never survived find peace and love in God's hands. I pray more for those who survived, eventhough they're alive, couldn't find it a "good thing" that they survived to see what is now in front of them, to see what was left of what they used to call home, to see how many loved ones they lost, to see the grief from all the corners of where they were standing now. This isn't a movie that you can stop crying after 2 and a half hours. It may take a lot more than that to get over this kind of experience. But I hope that I will still and will always prays for them.

"You think it's more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don't you give up now
The sun will soon be shining"
- What Faith Can Do (Kutless)

On H1N1

This “issue” has been going on for months now and a lot of countries has been reporting a lot of cases, although considered to be mostly mild cases only, a lot of precautions were laid out. Yesterday, at the office my boss called me and asked me to go home right away as there was a confirmed case of this H1N1 in our floor. She was the sister of my seatmate :) My boss asked me to go home just for precautionary measure as I’m pregnant. Today, I’m still working from home. The infected person came from the Philippines last Sunday via Tiger and came to office Monday morning and had a fever. I’m now afraid for habiga and me. Hopefully he won’t catch any of the symptoms when he came back from Manila on Tuesday. This is even worst than the SARS event. It’s been going on for so long now. Hayyyzzz, hirap pa naman work sa bahay. Remote connection is really slow.

Cebu Pacific (??)

We have been so greatful for the budget airlines like Jetstar, Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific. The latter was so in demand for its midnight schedules especially for people who wants to go to Philippines on weekends only. But lately, the flight delays has been experienced by almost everyone I know. Haven't experience them though, lucky for me. My friend Ami on the other hand was one of those unlucky ones. She was scheduled to leave Friday at 1:00 AM which was moved to 6:00 PM! The suppose to be flight of 6pm was move to 8 and then 11pm. I will be so pissed if I were her. Now, I'm wondering if I'm still getting that airline :(

Earth Hour

Earth Hour is an international event that asks households and businesses to turn off their lights and non-essential electrical appliances for one hour on the evening of 29 March at 8 pm local time until 9 pm to promote electricity conservation and thus lower carbon emissions.

It is promoted by World Wide Fund for Nature Australia (WWF), an environmental lobby group, and the Sydney Morning Herald. The first Earth Hour was held in Sydney, Australia between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm on 31 March 2007. The 2007 Earth Hour is estimated to have cut Sydney's mains electricity consumption by between 2.1% and 10.2% for that hour, with as many as 2.2 million people taking part. A second Earth Hour, in 2008, is planned to be an international event held in Sydney, many partner cities, and individuals around the world participating.

Let's do our part

"An entire barangay (village) was literally wiped out last Friday, 17 February 2006, when a mudslide buried Guinsaugon, one of 30 barangays in St. Bernard town, Southern Leyte. Close to 2,000 people were estimated to have been buried in an instant."

*A demise that once again breaks the hearts of many people especially mine. I didn't post much of it for no reason. There's not much we can do but to pray and help by donating few cents from our pocket that could be a big help to those in need so here's few ways to help. Leyte Blogspot

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Message from the Phil Embassy in Singapore
To all Filcom Leaders/ Organizations:
Re: 22 Feb 06 email on donation for landslide victims, kindly note that donations may be made directly to the following Philippine agencies:

I. Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) at the following bank account numbers:
Peso Account
Bank : MetroBank, Port Area Branch
Account : Philippine National Red Cross
Account No. : SA-3-041-63122-8

Bank : Bank of the Philippine Islands, UN Avenue Branch
Account : Philippine National Red Cross
Account No. : SA-8114 ? 0308 - 4

Bank : MetroBank, Port Area Branch
Account : PNRC ? Southern Leyte Relief Operations
Account No. : SA- 151-3-15151391-4

Dollar Account
Bank : MetroBank, Port Area Branch
Account : Philippine National Red Cross
Account No. : SA-2-151-00218-2
Swift Code : MBTC PHMM

Contact Person : Mr. Victor A. Liozo, Jr.
Secretary General, PNRC
Tel: (632)524-5787/Fax: 527-5981/
Telefax: 527-0857

Ms. Gwendolyn Pang
Director of Fund Generation
Mobile No: +63-917827-7421
Email: gwenpang@redcross.org.ph (24 hrs)

II. Department of Social Welfare and Development
Disaster Response Operation Monitoring & Information Center, (DROMIC), Batasan Pambansa Complex, Constitution Hills, Quezon City, Philippines.

Bank : Landbank of the Philippines,
Batasan Branch
Account Name : DSWD Donation
Account No. : 3122-1011-84
Contact Person : Ms. Vilma Cabrera, Director IV, Program Mgt. Bureau
DSWD (Tel : 632-9319147/Fax : 632-951-2801)


III. Department of Health
(donation of medicines)

Contact Person : Dr. Carmencita Banatin
Director III, Health Management Staff Department of Health
Attn: Ms. Merlina Villamin, Logistics Officer
Tel : (632) 929-6923
Telefax : (632) 929-6867/929-6827


Those who wish to donate items indicated in the "Wish List", you may drop them at :
1) Filipino Association of Singapore (FAS)
C/o Afreight Cargo
Unit 03-19 Lucky Plaza (Orchard Road)

2) Prudential Life Plans, Inc.
#03-01A Lucky Plaza (Orchard Road)

3) Philippine Embassy
20 Nassim Road

Deadline for dropping of items at the Embassy and at Lucky Plaza is on April 9, 2006.

We would appreciate if you could inform your members and friends on this update.

Thank you.

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Leyte Landslide

Tragedy strikes disaster-prone Leyte island again

SOME of the Philippines' worst disasters -- and one of the country's biggest moments in history -- have involved Leyte, one of the largest of the archipelago's 7,100 islands.

Hundreds may have been killed when a landslide Friday buried an entire farming village in thick mud and house-sized boulders.

Leyte etched its place in history after it was chosen by General Douglas MacArthur as the beachhead for his return to the Philippines, a former US colony, to liberate the country from Japanese troops in 1944.

The famous October 20, 1944, Leyte landing by MacArthur fulfilled his "I shall return" promise to the Philippines, and preceded the October 22-27 Battle of Leyte Gulf that involved more than 730 ships in one of history's largest naval battles.

Leyte's most famous daughter, former first lady Imelda Marcos, said she entertained MacArthur and liberation troops by singing for them.

More recently, the island has been linked to disasters, both natural and manmade.

In December 1987, the ferry MV Dona Paz -- carrying passengers from Leyte and nearby Samar island to Manila -- sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing 4,340 people. It was considered the worst peacetime shipping disaster.

In October the following year, the Paz's sister ship, Dona Marilyn, which was sailing from Manila to Leyte, sank during a typhoon, killing about 250 people.

Tragedy struck the island again in November 1991 when a flash flood swept down from the hills into Ormoc city on the western side of Leyte, killing about 6,000 people. A landslide in San Francisco, in southern Leyte province in December 2003, killed 133 people.

The island, about 560 kilometers (350 miles) southeast of Manila, is in the path of most of the typhoons that sweep from the Southern Pacific to the Philippines, and its southern portion experiences rainfall most of the year.

Wawawi Stampede

The stampede news saddened me. Every filipino mourns. My deepest sympathy to the family of those who have died in the stampede. A prayer is the only thing I can do to offer as of this moment. This is not the time to put the blame on anybody but to focus on the things that need to be done. =(

TV network cancels anniversary celebration of noontime show
First posted 12:26pm (Mla time) Feb 04, 2006
INQ7.net, Agence France-Presse

(UPDATE) ABS-CBN Network has cancelled the first anniversary celebration of its noontime show after over 70 people were killed and scores were injured in a stampede at the stadium where the program was to be held.

Charo Santos-Concio, a top executive of the television station, and "Wowowee" host Willie Revillame made the announcement in a brief telecast of the program, hours after the tragedy at the Philsports arena, previously known as ULTRA, in Pasig City early Saturday.

Revillame made a brief appearance inside the stadium, where thousands of people were already gathered, to apologize for the accident and condole with the families of the victims.

Revillame was in tears as he appealed to the audience to understand the decision by the station to postpone the celebration.

Earlier on Saturday, Revillame said he wanted the show to go on.

Thousands of people from poor communities had been lining up to get a seat inside the Ultra Stadium in eastern Manila for the noontime show when the stampede occurred at dawn.

The show offers a one million-peso top prize, attracting people from poor areas of Manila and far-flung provincial areas.

Hours later, thousands of surviving fans were still queuing for the show, despite the deadly stampede, waiting to enter the stadium.

"We only wanted to make these people happy and to help the poor," Revillame said, breaking down during an interview aired by the station immediately after the tragedy.

"I want the show to go on. I can't stop this. The people have suffered enough." He also appealed to fans who were still at home to refrain from going to the stadium.

He said Saturday's show would mark the first anniversary of the program, and that the show was offering two top prizes of one million pesos each -- a fortune to the 40 percent of Filipinos who live on two dollars a day or less.

Revillame said the station was used to having up to 5,000 people line up outside the studio gates on the nights before the weekend program, but that it had never before hosted the show at the Ultra stadium.

"Some would come from far-flung places, groups of families who would hire one mini-bus and agree to split the prize if one of them won," he added.

Revillame said he had made it a point to stage the game shows at other provincial centers several times during the past year. "We would pick places where the poor are hard-up," he added.

"This is a program that intends to help Filipinos, especially the poor," he said.

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74 people died, mostly were elderly women
nearly 400 injured

Other Related News:
Reuters
Taipei Times
Indian Express

Lindol

Quarter to 11 last night while am at home with my friends, I thought I just felt dizzy. And then my friend said "lumilindol wag kayong gagalaw". I was really scared. It lasted for I don't know how long but to me it feels like eternity. I was frantically crying inside my room with my cousin. I don't know why I cried but I really really felt so sad at that moment experiencing one thing i feared the most and my bebikoh was not there. After all Ive been through, I thought I can live my life alone without anyone else. But I was so wrong. I have build my life around the few people that matters to me - My family and my bebikoh. Without them I am nothing. They are the reason of my existence, of my strength, of my every smile. I haven't watched any news yet. And as selfishly as I have been and Im asking GOD's forgiveness about it, because of fear I forgot to think of other people. I only reached out to those few people that really matters to me. And when I heard from my friend who have read the news, 300 people died in Nias, Indonesia, it strucks me that I never thought of other people. I didn't even utter a prayer for them last night. This really makes me sad. =(

Humbled

Feel so sad at the moment...

Everyday I tried my best to find time and watch the news. I know for some people who were still missing due to tsunami, hope will always be there. I feel their pain but compare to what they were facing, it's just a diminutive of what they have experience. Every night since that tsunami started, I shed tears. The number of dead bodies increasing, the number of people wailing putting up the littlest of hope that somehow amidst of the pile of the dead bodies they would see their family. Seeing the children lifeless, who will never had the chance to see what future lies ahead of them, breaks my heart. The whole world is watching. All aches for them. All longs to help. But up to what extent? Soon, the whole world will go back to its everyday life. But the people will always face the nightmare of what they've been through. They will live their second chance of life wondering how they'll get over the past. I, myself will go back to my own. Sure, I will never forget what the December 26, 2004 tragedy have brought us. But will I still think of the survivors? Of the Children? I don't know what's my point here. Im sentimental and that's my excuse! Maybe, programming is not really my thing. Anyway, a friend of mine shared to me this wonderful piece. A bit long but worth it. Read on...

HUMBLED BY NATURE'S POWER by William Rees-Mogg of The Times
WE SHALL never know how many people have been killed by the great tsunami in the Indian Ocean. No doubt the number of identified casualties will continue to rise, but there will be many more who are missing and there will be grieving families who gradually have to give up hope

This is a human tragedy on a huge scale, caused by the action of Nature rather than Man. It is said to be the worst earthquake in 40 years. Yet in its scale, and in the mixture of damage from the earthquake itself, and that done by the sea, it is the most awe-inspiring earthquake that has happened in a lifetime. No previous earthquake I can remember, has destroyed property and killed people across a whole ocean

The earthquake itself is said to be 1,000km in length; the seabed was opened up as though by a zip fastener; this event threw up a gigantic wave three storeys high, which travelled for thousands of kilometres

One can understand what happened as a result of the stress between two continental plates, but one can hardly imagine it. The force generated must have been as great as that of a thousand nuclear bombs; no doubt that can be estimated and will be.

It is not only the level of casualties that impresses human consciousness. We are accustomed to millions being killed in major wars - even the Iran-Iraq war, of which the world took surprisingly little notice at the time, caused well over a million deaths.

Aids kills by the millions each year in Africa alone and has killed a total of tens of millions already.

When all the figures are added up, it looks as though the tsunami may have killed a few tens of thousands. The statistics in themselves are not what shock us. It is the scale and force of the event, and its geographic character. If such an earthquake happened in Europe, we would be able to trace the fault from London to Rome, or to Berlin.

If a tsunami 10m high stormed its way up the Thames, half of London would be under water.

If such an earthquake ripped through the San Andreas fault in California, it would virtually tear the state in two, and cause trillions of dollars worth of damage.

We view with awe a release of power on this scale. We know that this power is greater than that of our species - nature holds us in its hands.

We may be able to mitigate some of the consequences; in some cases we may be able to give advance warning of the threat; but we are not in control; the tsunami has demonstrated this ancient truth.

There are lessons.

First, no doubt, is that we should extend through the Indian Ocean, and other areas of risk, the scientific warning system that exists in the Pacific.

If an alert coastguard in Sumatra had observed the earthquake, he would not have known who to warn in India or Sri Lanka, although they could have had a couple of hours' warning.
In the wealthier Pacific area there is an organised warning system, which has reduced the casualties from tsunamis.

The world will no doubt give aid to the areas that have been hardest hit.

In Sri Lanka alone it is reported that a million coastal people have suffered serious material damage.

The world needs to be generous. By and large, the tragedy has fallen on poor countries and tourists, not directly on the inhabitants of the wealthiest cities of the world.

This could have happened to Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles or even London. That is one reason for the great cities to dig deep into their pockets. They have been spared.

The disaster should also impel all the nations of the world to give further thought to the needs of the environment.

As it happens, global warming seems to have had little or no connection with this event. But the tsunami did mimic some of the effects that global warming is now expected to have.

The great wave, in an hour, told the world where sea levels might be in a century, or perhaps in a couple of centuries.

If the sea rises, it will flood the coastal areas of low-lying countries. Mankind has built a fragile home for itself, with the growth of the world's population, the exploitation of natural resources, the spread of diseases from overcrowding and modern transport, the dependence on modern technologies - some of which are very vulnerable to upheaval - and the tall buildings which are open to terrorism.

That fragility is the real danger of the modern world. Even after 911, the great cities of the world have continued to build symbolic skyscrapers that are almost as vulnerable as the twin towers in New York.

The biblical story of the Tower of Babel had been the blueprint for modern cities.

The tsunami mocks this pride.

Perhaps our modern skyscrapers would withstand, as some tall hotels have withstood, the rush of the water. But our global system has an arrogance that challenges the forces of nature.

It is as though mankind had decided to tweak nature by the nose to show who is the boss. The tsunami has demonstrated that nature, and not mankind, is still the real master.

It is ironic that the poor of the earth have taken the brunt of the suffering.

If a million people have had their homes damaged or destroyed in Sri Lanka, there will be another million on the coast of India and more again in Thailand and Indonesia, perhaps in the Maldives as well.

They will get some aid, but nothing like enough to make good their probable losses. The proud have had a lesson, but at the expense of the humble people of the earth.

Nature can be a brutal moralist.

Asia grieves - Phuket Tsunami

"imagine spending your christmas holiday under the sun beside the beach, relaxing and resting and taking your time off from working your ass off the entire year. you got, let's say 2 weeks, to relax and enjoy the hot sun. you look around, some were enjoying too like you with their families. those little kids doing their best to make a sand castle. the old couple walking hand in hand, pass you by while you just lie there and relax. with a smile on your face, u promise yourself you'll do it next year. and then suddenly, you heard people screaming. then u saw big wave as high as you can imagine. you saw woman crying. it happens so fast that you never even had the chance to react..."

my heart sank as i watched the news yesterday afternoon. thousands of people were killed. thousands were missing. thousands were injured. most of them were tourists. and here i am living my normal life. in front of my computer. unable to think and work. devastation fills my entire soul. the quake that shook some countries in asia. the killer wave that obliterates the beautiful beaches. the natural disaster that claimed thousands of lives and inflict injuries to a lot of people.

and then i thought what if i was there? i've been to phuket a year ago and the more i think of the what if's the more my heart bleeds with compassion and sympathy to those people who think of nothing but to enjoy, unwary that this vacation is their last.

the entire world was shocked. the end of the year is 5 days away and to those people welcoming the new year with such anguish and pain is so sad to think about. i wish there is something that i could do. i wishi could alleviate their pain from the loss that they've faced.

imagine this happens to the entire world. imagine that it's not just the end of the year that's coming. imagine it is indeed the end of the world. i can't think of it. i am not yet ready. emotionally and spiritually ... but i know that i still have the time and chance to be ready. i'll try and do my best. i will. Some things happen the way we least expect them to happen. May we always be ready - spiritually. May GOD bless us all especially those who passed away...

On a stormy day like this...

Everyday I go to Inquirer's website to copy the latest syobis or political news, and the paper's editorial but I hardly ever read anything of it. Not if something catches my eye, then that's the only time I'll read. Well, I love to read books. I love to read anything but news. Not because I don't care what's happening around me, it's just that I feel worst reading them. All the killings, anything that show's people revenge, terrorism, corruption, all these breaks me. Anyway, I do this everyday because we got this internal online pahayagan just for the pinoys and oh yeah, Im the so-called editor-in-chief. Im thrilled of course. This is another story.

So with the little free time that I have from working and trying to survive with my everyday life overseas, I rarely read and watch the news. But Mr. A does. He's so into it. Everyday in the morning, with his usual breakfast, he watches Channelnews asia or CNN. And he's my only "connection" from the outside world. =) But last night, when he told me about the typhoon that hit the northern philippines, I tried to watch and read the news.

I was devastated. Flabbergasted. Sympathetic. And then I cried. (Oh, don't worry, I cried a lot. I always do on sad movies. Yeah, on cartoons too, one time!) My country is experiencing a great loss. A lot of homes were destroyed, more than 900 people were killed, some were still missing, all due to the flashfloods and landslides triggered by the storm Yoyong or Nanmadol. (Funny how we still managed to name a ravaging storm like this) I can't imagine how the people who managed to survived in the storm could endure this kind of tragedy in their life. And you know what's worst than this? Feeling so much sympathy and yet not being able to do anything to lessen the pain they were into. The best thing you could do is cry for them because you can't do anything much. I guess I'm just being soft. But who won't be? =(

Let's just hope and pray that these people will be ok. That, albeit it's a great loss for them, they would still remain strong. God bless them all. May peace be with the souls of the departed. My deepest sympathy.