Philippine Typhoon Appeal

Typhoon Ketsana Disaster

Saving a drowning person

On 26 September 2009, the northern part of the Philippines was struck by a strong typhoon that dumped a month’s worth of rain in a matter of 6 hours. The typhoon was called Typhoon Ketsana, though locally known as “Ondoy”. Typhoon Ondoy came like a thief in the night. No one expected that this typhoon was so intense. Severe flooding happened very quickly, and there was little to no time for people to respond and prepare themselves for what’s to come. Rivers burst their banks and overflowed into the villages and neighbourhood, submerging the capital Manila into neck-deep waters. People scrambled to rooftops and searched for higher ground. Many were stranded without electricity, water, and mobile phone coverage. Families were split apart, not knowing what has happened to one another.

It was a scene of utter chaos. The whole city looked like a warzone, with cars damaged and strewn all over the place, and walls collapsing due to the strong current of the flood as it gushes through the entire city. Typhoon Ketsana disaster has claimed 250 lives in the Philippines and left 500,000 people homeless, and now Typhoon Ketsana has wrecked havoc to Vietnam and Cambodia. 33 people have been reported dead in Vietnam and so far only 9 in Cambodia.

This is a travel blog and I realise that I may have just breached my rules of only putting out content related to travel. However, having come from the Philippines and seeing the disaster, I would love to contribute and help my fellow countrymen out. The Philippines is a great travel destination, and like most places with a good tourism potential, this disaster will hurt whatever tourism industry there is in the country. It is a bit like the Boxing Day Tsunami in Thailand where the devastation is intense, and tourism has plummeted, causing more suffering to its people.

Feeling Helpless While It Happened

Floods in the Philippines

I was logged into Facebook on Saturday night, trying to see what’s happening to my friends when I saw a barrage of status updates from my friends pleading for help. It was so distressing seeing one of my close friends from university who was really pleading for help for her family. My friend is now based in England, but her family is still in the Philippines. Her entire family got stranded on the roof of their house when the flood waters gushed into their home. They had to endure the wind and rain for several hours while waiting to be rescued.

Some of my other friends were frantically looking for their relatives, as they didn’t know where they were, and they didn’t have any mobile phone coverage.

First Hand Account of the Tragedy

Here’s a first hand account from a friend’s friend, Lisa Navidad of the Typhoon Ketsana disaster:

“It was raining non-stop since Friday evening. Hubby and I were watching TV and heard that Pasig was flooded. That was where my younger sister, Bubut and her husband was living. I texted her and asked how things where in Pasig since they were also living with my bro-in-law’s grandma who is 87 y/o. She replied with exclamation points “Hanggang ankle na inside the house!!!” (It’s ankle-deep inside the house) and that was the last time I heard from her.

I was texting here the whole afternoon and way into the evening. No response. I thought it odd that she won’t reply to me and even when my mom and dad texted her. I felt that something was wrong.

What happened next was excruciating. News flash of ranging waters in Pasig and on different parts of Manila was shocking to say the least. How could this be happening. I was scared for my sister and her family. They lived in a one-storey house, with an old woman who is blind in one-eye. Where will they go? Are they still alive? Those where the thoughts that ran through my head. I’ve been calling their cellphones the whole night, but it was out of service. Panic and hysteria are bubbling inside my head. The storm and fear forming inside my chest was devastating. Where they still alive?! I hoped so, I really hoped so.

I talked to the sister-in-law, younger sibling of my sister’s husband. She told me the last time they talked to them was around 4pm. They urged them to transfer to an abandoned apartment in front of the house because it had a second floor. Then after that no news. Each hour that passed, fear and terror crept into our hearts. My dad did not take it well, he passed out. His blood pressure climbed high, he was beyond consolation. So is my mom.

No one could help us. The rescue was a slow, pain-staking process. The night passed and we wondered if they were safe, if they had food, if they were alive. The following day, we waited for news, none came. It was after lunch already – still no news if there was any rescue going to happen. We called everyone we knew, all the government agencies, anyone who can help, strangers. No one could help, all the government agencies were deployed, all we can do was wait…and hope that they were still alive.

September 27 4:47pm, my sis-in-law got a message from them, they were alive! Thank God but stuck in the 2nd floor of the apartment, cold, no food and no idea if help was coming. That gave us hope, they were alive. We will move heaven and earth to get to them even if we had to swim there ourselves.

A lot of people from Facebook responded to my urgent request for help. But still we couldn’t do anything. If only there were more rubber boats available, if only we could get there faster, if only help was sure to come. We couldn’t do anything but wait. Wait for any good soul to tell us that they will get them. My sister had hypoglycemia, her grandma was sickly.

After waiting for almost 2 days already, finally news! People from Red Cross and the Armed Forces got them. It 12:30am September 27 they were riding, 1 of the 4 rubber boats deployed for the whole City of Pasig, back to our waiting and longing arms. Rescued at last.”

My sister’s account of what happened brought goosebumps in my arms, people wailing at night in the dark asking for help, asking for food, but they couldn’t do anything…the water was high, way past the one-storey roof. There were dead bodies, mothers who gave birth prematurely, sick people in respirators who lost their lives due to hypothermia and no electricity. No words could describe the devastation. Still even as I write this people are still on top of roofs, people are still starving waiting and hoping for help, people have lost their loved ones, people have lost their means to live.

The Typhoon Ketsana disaster is not over yet. Cleanup is still in progress, and there are still missing people, unaccounted for after the flood. Some have been presumed dead. The Philippines is now appealing for international aid.

Images of The Flood

Here is a video clip of the terrible disaster that struck the Philippines:

Help The Flood Victims – Please Donate

The Philippines need a lot of help in recovering from this disaster. Poor people have lost their homes completely and would need to rebuild their lives literally from scratch. If you can donate to any of the organizations listed below, it will go a long way to helping the people of the Philippines recover from this tragedy. Below are the list of good organizations that you can donate for the Typhoon relief:

Philippines.com.au – Sagip Migrante Fund Drive: Donate to Ondoy Flood Victims
Philippines.com.au is a site dedicated to Filipinos living in Australia. They are currently accepting donations for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy. This is a great site for Australians to donate.
Caritas Australia

Caritas Australia is part of the global Caritas Foundation, whose aim is to help the poor and the disadvantaged. Caritas Australia is currently accepting donations for the Philippine Flood Relief. Caritas in other countries would surely have a similar fund raising for this disaster so visit your local Caritas website.

Ayala Foundation
Ayala Foundation is a Philippine-based organization that was founded by one of the Philippines’ wealthiest families, the Ayala family. The foundation has several projects that help the poor and the disadvantaged. You can donate for Ondoy victims here.
Philippine National Red Cross
The Philippine National Red Cross is part of the International Society of Red Cross and Red Crescent, and is responsible for reaching out to those who are in need of medical assistance and aid. Please donate to this wonderful organization.

Thank you for your generosity and for your reading this post. I will be back next week to write about another exciting destination.

Have a Fabulous Journey!